Ranma One Half: A cure for the curse
by midspace
Summary: Whilst the fathers are away, a stranger comes to Nerima and offers Ranma what he claims to be a cure for the Jusenkyo curse. Akane and Ranma end up on a journey to China to cure him permanently, but the cure isn't what it seems at first appearance. Instead Ranma gets something he hadn't quite bargained for. Can he/she live with the consequences?
1. Curses and cures

**Ranma 1/2: A cure for the curse**

**"A very tragic legend"**

A Mid-Space production fanfic

* * *

Disclaimer:

All significant characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi.

The Ranma 1/2 Manga and Anime are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Communications in their various formats and media.

Some characters are of my own creation, but I'd like to think they belong to Rumiko, since without her they never would have been born.

All other characters are the property of their respective owners.

The use of Ranma 1/2 and its characters in this story are not intended as an infringement on the intellectual property rights of Rumiko Takahashi or Viz Communications. I haven't seen any Shogokukan material, so naaaaae! #HOLDS EYELID DOWN AND POKES TONGUE OUT#.

All rights remain with their respective owners.

This story is intended to inform and entertain, and not to make money, however much I want it. Though I'd much prefer it if you enjoy this story, then email me and tell me. I'd love to hear from you.

* * *

Authors Comments:

Though a large fan of Ranma 1/2, I'm not any good at Japanese, so bear with me in my bad attempt at using what little Japanese grammar I know.

This story follows the 20th Manga Volume of Ranma 1/2, as released by Viz. If you've read the Manga, you'll see the point it leaves off, and this story begins. It follows the concept of a cure being offered to Ranma by a stranger. But the cure isn't necessary a full on fix for Ranma's problem. Read on and find out.

This is my first attempt at writing a Fan Fiction, so any comments ***would*** be appreciated.

I haven't seen the entire Anime or read the entire Manga, so I don't know if a final and permanent cure really does get offered to Ranma, but this is entirely my idea. Well, it's an idea that followed an idea, which followed an idea. And it just kept building in my mind until I had to put it down. Unfortunately I kept having more ideas, which delayed my writing until I could put them together. If this story is at all similar to any others (which I've found out recently) it is purely unintentional. Hopefully any similarity will disappear with the more that I write.

The rest of the credit goes to Rumiko Takahashi for creating such wonderful characters.

Rating: PG13+. If you're old enough to read the Manga or watch the Anime without a blood nose, then you can read this.

Lemon factor: 0.0%.

Lime factor: 8.0%.

WAFF content: Initialising counter: [...]

Special thanks to Bekar my pre-reader.

Reading this story includes:

Japanese speech, "will appear in double quotes."

Speech other than Japanese, "{will appear with braces and double quotes.}"

Signs held by pandas, 'will appear in single quotes.'

Emphasis when yelling ***will appear bold and in asterisks.***

A character's thoughts_, [will be italics and in square brackets.]_

Another character's thoughts that may be overheard, _[[will be italics and in double square brackets.]]_

Sounds and actions will appear, #IN CAPITALS AND IN HASH SYMBOLS.#

* * *

**Ranma 1/2: A cure for the curse**

**Chapter 01 – "Curses and cures"**

The high craggy mountains in the Bayankala Range stretched for hundreds of Kilometres throughout the Mount Quanjing region, patches of forest dotting the landscape. Breaking the endless pattern of dull green and brown were the white caps of snow in the higher altitudes, which was slowly creeping down the mountains.

Winter was coming, and even in the Qinghai Province of China, the white snows always came. It covered a wide region of the Province, even as far down as a small cleft of a valley that held hundreds of naturally occurring springs.

The springs were little known, but to a small select few who had trekked through China searching the legendary training grounds known as Jusenkyo. Even fewer knew that they were cursed springs.

Two people stood on the snow sprinkled ridge in heavy coats and packs on their backs. Of all the people in the world, these two knew about the springs, and the danger that lurked in falling into the waters of Jusenkyo.

Together they looked down over the training grounds, with several upright bamboo poles dispersed in each and every spring, providing small platforms of sorts, for those with the skill and the courage to practice aerial forms of martial arts.

"Well, there it is Akane-chan," said Ranma, gesturing at the springs with a hand. "That's Jusenkyo."

"The accursed springs," she whispered with a sense of awe at seeing the place with her own eyes.

* * *

Several weeks earlier...

Nadoka Saotome blinked her eyes as she looked up at figure that leaned over her.

_[That's it. She's seen me! Might as well kill myself now,]_ Ranma thought to herself.

At first Nadoka thought her son was in front of her. "Ra..." she began, but then recognised the red haired girl who held a look of disappointment on her face.

Nadoka stood up; miraculously dry after the being thrown through the air by the hot water from the pump.

"Ranko... so it was ***you*** who saved me?" Nadoka asked.

"Huh...?" Ranma said. _[She must have seen me change! No... She didn't?]_ "Uh, no, I mean..." Ranma stumbled over her words.

Nadoka didn't hear her, "Of course... that must have been just a dream..." she said.

"A dream!" Akane and Ranma said together incredulously.

"I dreamt that Ranma rescued me," Nadoka said, her eyes shining with the vision still clear in her mind. "Oh he was such a fine young man..." #SIGH!#

Genma stood at a safe distance in Panda form and sweat dropped.

Ranma was at a loss for words.

"Actually Mrs. Saotome..." Akane began, but Ranma cut her off with a hand before she could say another word.

Akane looked to Ranma, "But..."

"It's okay, being a dream for now..." Ranma said, her eyes showing happiness. _[Until I can become a complete guy again.]_

Akane understood then, that this was Ranma's choice. She looked at Ranma, who stood there and watched as his mother waved goodbye to them, with a large smile clear on her face.

_[There's a look in Ranma's eyes,]_ Akane thought, smiling to herself.

_[Hold on tight to that dream, okaasan,]_ thought Ranma, as she vanished from view down the street.

* * *

Happosai moped around the Tendo Dojo, feeling depressed. He clutched in one hand, a frilly pink brassier that he rubbed against his face, but it wouldn't... it couldn't cheer him up.

"Ohh, life is so cruel," he wailed.

The Tendo's and the Saotome's watched as he walked along the hallway, looking about ready to bawl his eyes out.

Ranma looked over at the old letch. "Looks like he's ready to keel over," he commented.

"Don't be so cruel Ranma," Genma spoke up from his game with Soun. "The master has not being feeling himself lately."

"Maybe this will cheer him up?" Nabiki held a stick out, waiving a pair of panties over the old man.

"Hey isn't that one of mine?" Akane called out.

Nabiki disappeared around the corner as Happosai followed, with Akane in pursuit.

Soun Tendo looked up from the Shogi board. "I think we should take the master out on a training trip, like the way we used to."

Genma paused, one hand holding a game piece in mid move. "You mean, visit our old stomping grounds, and refresh the old memories?" He said, a smile starting to appear on his face.

"We could re-live the old days!" Soun chuckled.

"What, stealing panties and bras from villages, and food whenever convenient?" Ranma asked.

#SPLASH!#

"Who asked you boy!" Genma demanded. An empty bucket dropped from his hand, rolling across the floor out of sight.

#CRACK# ... #SPLASH#

"When it involves you stealing food from the Amazons, it affects me!" Onna-Ranma called out to the panda climbing out of the Koi pond in the yard.

"We don't intend to go that far Ranma," Soun said, taking the opportunity to hide several game pieces.

Genma held up a sign in his furred paw as he came back inside and resumed his seat, 'Master's special place'

"What special place?"

Soun turned to Genma, with a big smile. Genma returned it with a toothy grin.

Ranma thought she felt a shiver run down her spine, watching those two conspire. The sensation felt so real she forced herself to look around at her back, and found Happosai stuck to her, his hands groping at her chest.

"Dammit you old letch," she yelled, yanking him off and booting the old man out the doorway and off into the distance.

"Whaaaaa!" was all that could be heard as he disappeared.

* * *

It was a strangely silent night with little wind and dark foreboding clouds lingered on the horizon. A stranger had appeared in town that day, wearing a heavy cloak that covered most of his features from view. Those that were familiar with strange visitors had initially thought it was the peculiar kid with the yellow bandana who often frequented the town, always asking for directions.

And the place usually sought for was, of course, the Tendo Dojo. And it was no exception that the stranger also sought the same place.

A man out on the street, hawking Okonomiyaki from a cart became the centre of the stranger's attention.

"Could you tell me where I can find the Tendo Dojo?"

The man pointed a cooking implement down the road. "It's down that way, turn left before the drainage canal, follow it until you pass under the rail line, then take the first left, and then the second right, and you should find it on your left."

The stranger bowed, and headed down the road, following the instructions precisely.

"Awfully polite fellow," the man commented before returning his attention to his Okonomiyaki cart.

* * *

At his window, Ranma stared out at the calm sky. A full moon could be seen amongst the clouds that were drifting in, shining its filtered light on his face. It was quiet, almost too quiet.

_[I almost wish something would happen,]_ he thought glumly, and then shook his head.

Soun and Genma had left on a trip with the old letch, leaving him alone with the girls.

They hadn't wanted Ranma to come along, with Genma telling him, "There are some things we have to re-live with just the three of us."

Soun put it better when he said, "Ranma, we don't want you finding out what sort of torture the master put us through." He broke down crying in Ranma's chest, "And look after my three babies!"

#HMPH!# Akane could be heard in the background.

Right before they'd gone, Genma said one last thing. "Son, this is your chance to get with Akane. No parents looking over your shoulder. Be a ***man***, and make the best of it." Genma had slapped him hard on the back and then left.

_[What does he take me for? An idiot?]_

* * *

Akane's schoolwork had been all of thirty minutes of algebra, leaving her with nothing to do for hours. She'd sat in her room reading one of her few books through again until she threw it down in boredom. It wasn't the same without her father and Genma around, providing some form of entertainment.

It was too quiet for her. She wanted to get out, and do something, like see a movie.

She'd already asked Nabiki. "I'm sorry imouto, but I've got to balance these books and finish my homework tonight," Nabiki had said. "Why don't you ask Ranma-kun?"

So Akane had tried Kasumi. "Oh my!" Kasumi said surprised by the offer. "Thankyou imouto, but wouldn't it be better to take Ranma-kun?"

_[Ranma, Ranma... Maybe Oneechan is right and I should take him... it's not as if our fathers will try anything...]_

She walked up and down the hallway, looking at Ranma's door as she considered.

_[It's just a movie after all; it's not as if we're dating.]_

* * *

Ranma turned from the window and stared at his room. He noticed a shadow pass by his closed door. It came back again and went in the other direction. Ranma waited, as the shadow went back and forth a few times before stopping in front of his door.

_[Two small feet. Not Kasumi's style and Nabiki wouldn't be so obvious.]_ "Come in Akane," he called out.

The door rattled, and then it slid open.

"How... how'd you know?" Akane asked.

Ranma just rolled his eyes.

"What d'ya want?"

Akane felt a flush of anger at his tone, but held it back.

_[Maybe he was doing something and I interrupted...]_ Akane thought. She looked around the room, as if considering what to say.

"I was thinking..." she began. "Would you like to..."

Before she could finish, there was a loud knocking from the front door downstairs.

"Who could that be?" Ranma said, getting up from the window sill. He hadn't even heard the squeaking of the wooden gates at the front. _[Maybe it's Shampoo? Or Ukyo-chan?]_ He thought, heading for the doorway, leaving Akane standing there with her question unfinished.

* * *

Kasumi reached the door first. She had a pleasant smile on her face as she opened the door to find a stranger in a heavy cloak.

"Is this the Tendo Dojo?" The stranger asked.

"Yes it is," Kasumi replied. "Can I help you?"

"Could you please tell me, where can I find Ranma Saotome?"

"Ranma? Oh certainly..." Kasumi turned and called out. "Ranma-kun. A visitor for you."

She turned back to the visitor, inviting him in. "Would you like to come in? I've just prepared some tea."

* * *

Ranma came downstairs to find the stranger still standing in the dark cloak, covering his features. Instantly suspicious of the unknown stranger seeking him out, Ranma was on guard as he faced the stranger in the main room of the Tendo house.

Akane and Nabiki appeared at the doorway to the dinning room, to see this stranger as Kasumi returned with a tray holding a pot of tea and some cups.

"Here you go Kaneda-san," Kasumi offered a cup to the stranger, who sat himself at the table.

The stranger took a single sip from the cup before placing it down on the table in front of him. His face was still covered by the heavy cloak.

"Ranma Saotome?" the man asked with his eyes barely visible.

Ranma tensed, expecting an attack. Instead, the man flipped his hood off, revealing a slim man, his face weathered by time and travel, with jet black hair tied in a short ponytail.

"And you are?" Ranma asks.

"I am Kaneda Shotaro."

_[Kaneda? I don't know any Kaneda,]_ Ranma thought to himself, still wary.

"I don't expect you've heard my name," he says. "I have travelled ***many*** a mile on my treks. I have being places and seen things that only the gods themselves could comprehend."

"So why are yo looking for me then? Are you another challenger?" Ranma finally asks.

"A challenger?" Kaneda asks. "Oh, no. No. I am not. I have come here, because of Jusenkyo."

_[The cursed springs?]_

"Ohh," the Tendo girls exclaimed together in surprise, coming into the room.

"What... what about Jusenkyo?" Ranma asked.

"You are the Ranma Saotome who visited the legendary training grounds of cursed springs, Jusenkyo, and fell in Nyanneechuan, the Spring of Drowned girl are you not?"

"What of it?" Ranma asks. His interest was piqued enough that he came forward warily, to sit at the table.

Kaneda started out telling his story, sipping tea between talking. "I was once cursed by the Jusenkyo springs."

_[Once?]_ Ranma thinks.

"It was 20 years ago, when I first..." Kaneda hesitated, remembering the pain of the loss of everything he'd known in his life. He swallowed, and pushed forward. "I travelled from Japan in search of answers to questions I had, and ended up in China. You could call it an accident, but that is how I ended up with my curse. The guide wasn't very helpful, as he didn't know much Japanese. But to find myself changing bodies because of..."

Kaneda look to Ranma, sorrow filling his eyes. "You understand of course."

Ranma could only nod in sympathy.

"Seeking to understand what had happened to me I stayed on with the Guide and learnt Mandarin, whilst teaching him Japanese at the same time. It was a slow process, learning all the fundamentals of a new language, and the nature of the curse."

Kaneda emptied his cup.

"More tea?" Kasumi offered.

"Yes, arigotou."

Kasumi filled his cup, and listened as Kaneda continued his tale.

"I learnt many things whilst I was there, many important things about the Jusenkyo springs and the curses."

Ranma would have being on the edge of his seat, had he not being sitting on the floor already.

"Chinese legends talk of a large god, known Ma-Zhang who roamed the countryside searching for the perfect bride. He'd move frofm town to town, pillaging them in search of a girl to be his bride. The towns usually knew when he was coming, as he could be heard coming for some distance and they hid their unmarried girls away in the forests whenever he came looking. Ma-Zhang did this for one hundred years, until he realised that the towns, though they never had any girls in them when he visited, the people kept changing, and they never died out. He got angry and went on a rampage; killing everyone in the next town he came to. The girls who had hidden in the forest had watched from a distance, as their families were killed, so they plotted their revenge. Ma-Zhang watched as the girls came out of hiding, many beautiful girls who promised to marry him. Ma-Zhang agreed because all their familles were dead, he would marry all of them. The girls all agreed too, and told him to return on the next day when they would begin a feast for their nuptials. Ma-Zhang left, leaving the girls alone. The girls buried their familles, and set about cooking a great feast."

"They were going to marry him?" Akane asked.

"Oh they had no intention of marrying him," said Kaneda. "Ma-Zhang returned the next day to find a huge banquet ready. Because Ma-Zhang was so large, he ate all the food there, stuffing himself greedily. Ma-Zhang hadn't realised this, but all the food had being poisoned. It was only when he felt dizzy that he knew there was something wrong. He asked the girls what they had done, and they told him that it was revenge for killing their families. Ma-Zhang was shocked, yet he also understood. As Ma-Zhang collapsed, it is said that he cursed the ground he fell upon, saying that for eternity, the waters that flow from this ground will bring back the dead in the forms of the living. Ma-Zhang's body struck the ground, creating the Bayankala ranges. It is said that Jusenkyo springs are in the very spot where bodies of those dead families were buried."

Kaneda took a sip of tea, as Ranma reattached his jaw.

"Though the story of the spring's creation are interesting, nothing has every being said about how such a curse can be removed."

"What about using the Nanniichuan?" Ranma asked.

Kaneda frowned. "The spring of drowned man? It is useful, but it does not cure. It is would be like mixing your curses, it is both unstable and possibly dangerous. Mixing a Nanniichuan on top of a Nyanneechuan and your cursed form would result in a hermaphrodite, though how much is hard to say. You might be ninety nine percent male, or ninety nine percent female. Dealing with two sets of magical curses always returns unstable results. And the Nanniichuan is not a pretty one by itself. That is unless you enjoy looking like a short Chinese man with features resembling the man who drowned in it originally."

"I didn't know..." Ranma stumbled.

All that time he'd spent chasing the Japanese Nanniichuan, fighting with Ryoga and getting into the girls locker room and then there was Shampoo with the Instant Nanniichuan Powder...

"Wait," Ranma interrupted. "I had some Instant Nanniichuan Powder a few months ago, and it was able to cure my curse, although it only worked once."

"Was this a 'Jusenkyo Magical Spring Product'?"

"Yes, why?"

Kaneda chuckled lightly. "'Jusenkyo Magical Spring Products' was one of my attempts at finding a cure. It was made from an unstable concoction of elements and distilled Jusenkyo spring water. It only worked once per application. The fact that it worked at all was a miracle, and not because it was made from Nanniichuan spring water, but because the mixture itself interfered with the actual curse." Kaneda shrugged his shoulders. "It was a poor attempt with mixed results."

"You mean if a cursed girl had used the instant Nanniichuan, she'd have stayed as a girl?" Ranma asked dumfounded.

"Pretty much. The instant Nanniichuan affects those without a Jusenkyo curse in the usual way. It's just no cure."

"So you ended up marketing this?" Nabiki piped up.

"I was living in one of the Chinese towns by this time, so I had to make a living somehow. Flogging off the Instant Nanniichuan Powder for some money seemed like a great idea at the time. Ever since leaving Jusenkyo most of my time has being devoted to finding a cure. I spent 20 long years trying to find a cure. I travelled all over, seeking magical treatments, reversal charms, anything, including resorting to black magic to help."

"You didn't find one?" Akane asked.

"On the contrary, I did find one," Kaneda replied.

Before Ranma spoke again, he drew his jaw up from the floor. "A cure?" He leaned forward, forgetting his former caution.

"Yes a cure," Kaneda replies, but Ranma sees something in his face a look that shows something other than the satisfaction of curing a life long curse.

"A cure is possible. No longer would you find water splashing you at the most inconvenient time. Where a simple splash of water once would have made your life miserable; now means little more than getting wet."

Kaneda mouth broke into a smile for the first time, as his eyes became shiny with moisture.

Nabiki felt reluctant to break the man from his moment of happiness, but she was missing an important angle here and had to ask. "Why now? Why Ranma? I'm sure there are more people deserving of a cure from Jusenkyo..."

Ranma glared at her for the suggestion, so she quickly changed her words. "...I mean. I'm sure that Ranma could cope with his cursed form much better compared to others, with smaller and more inconvenient forms."

A sigh escaped from Kaneda. "There is a reason, that I will explain. This cure would more than likely work on all cursed forms, but it would..." He stalled, as if unsure how best to form his words. "Those with human form curses are likely to suffer less pain, than those without," he finished. "The Chinese Guide kept a visitor registry, keeping a list of everyone who had ever visited Jusenkyo."

"Hey, wasn't that stolen by that monster?" Akane interrupted.

"It was stolen?" Kaneda asked with a worried look on his face.

"Yeah, it taken by Pantyhose Taro," added Ranma.

"Pantyhose?" Kaneda frowned.

"Yeah, don't ask. It's a long story, and to make it short, Happosai ate the book, and the panty freak disappeared," said Ranma. "Hopefully for good." He added as an afterthought.

"It does not matter, the registry is just for show. The guide keeps the real registry separate, along with more information on those who had fallen into a springs. It lists the spring, the name of the individual, and if possible where they live. There have being dozens of people over the recent years, few of which who fell into the human form springs. But of them all, yours was only one I was able to track down to your mother, and then to here."

"Mom?" Ranma exclaimed, looking around nervously. "You didn't tell her about Jusenkyo did you?"

"No. Just that I was searching for you. She was quite helpful in telling me where you were. I understand that there would be a reluctance on your part about telling some people about your curse, so I refrained from mentioning Jusenkyo or a cure to anyone until I found you."

Ranma relaxed, comforted that Kaneda had kept his mouth shut in front of his mother. But having the cure itself would negate that entirely.

"How can we trust what you are telling us is the truth?" Akane asked.

Ranma heard the movement from behind him and dodged sideways, as a splash of water flew across the room, hitting Kaneda square in the face. He flinched noticeably, but there was no change of body, no unbelievable morphing into some creature. He remained the same man who had walked through the doorway.

Ranma and Kaneda looked around at the person who threw the water, finding Nabiki standing there, guiltily holding an empty glass.

"Just thought it was a good idea to check."

Kasumi appeared with a towel, offing it to Kaneda.

"Arigotou," he said, wiping his face dry. "It is understandable. You want to verify my story, yet I am unable to prove to you either that I was once cursed."

"Hey that's true!" Akane exclaimed.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "So what's this cure?"

Kaneda let out a small snort. "It took a conversation with a Russian Paranormal Physicist about the properties of transmuting water, and the affects of latent thermodynamics of DNA."

"Huh?" Akane asked.

Ranma didn't understand most of it himself, but he knew what Kaneda talking about. "He's talking about the Jusenkyo water, you baka!"

"At least I'm not an ecchi hydrotranssexual!" Akane shot back.

Kaneda looked from one to the other, then to Nabiki with a questioning look on his face. She could only shrug in reply.

Kaneda decided to continue. "Basically it is something so simple, it is almost beyond belief. To think that I wasted years in searching, and the cure turns out to be in the same place where the nightmare started." Kaneda's eyes were closed as he said this.

Ranma waited expectantly for the visitor to tell him.

"Ranma-san," said Kaneda, opening his eyes on the boy. "I must warn you, this cure is not without its side effects."

Ranma was almost ready to throttle the man. He'd talked on and on, and still hadn't gotten to the point.

"Yet you must endure the pain with the cure, that is why of all the people who have been to Jusenkyo, why I choose to tell you."

"Pain?" Ranma scoffed, pushing out his chest. "I can take anything!"

"Except criticism," Nabiki mumbled. Akane sniggered.

"If you are sure Ranma-san, I shall tell you."

Ranma nodded enthusiastically, leaning forward as he listened carefully.

"You will need to travel far, returning to Jusenkyo, with its legendary training grounds of cursed springs. Returning to the very spring, which cursed you, the Nyanneechuan. These springs, whilst well known for its training grounds, it is also a fresh water spring, naturally seeping out of the grounds at a temperature normally cold at those altitudes. You will have to collect water from the spring you fell into, enough to fill a whole kettle and heat the water to a boiling temperature for five minutes. When this is done, you must douse yourself with the still boiling water, and the curse will dissipate."

_[That's it?]_ Ranma stared wide-eyed at the man, surprised that the curse could be lifted so simply. _[If we'd collected some of the water from the spring before we'd left, then I wouldn't have to travel back to China, but Pops had to drag me back to Japan for the engagement.]_

Nabiki was quiet as she thought to herself. _[If the cure is so simple, then why hasn't Shampoo used it yet? Unless the Amazons don't know about it... then Cologne doesn't know everything that she professes.]_

#CRACK!#

Akane jumped as the sound of thunder echoed outside the house, the lightning striking close by. She landed with arms wrapped around Ranma.

The two stared at one another's faces momentarily, until she pulled away and struck him with a closed fist. "You hentai!"

Ranma rocked back with the hit, absorbing most of it so he didn't go flying out of the room, but it did leave a distinct hand shaped impression on his face.

Kaneda was on his feet as he looked outside with a serious look to his face. "I must leave, I have spent too much time here already," he said, leaving the tea unfinished.

"What about this side effect you mentioned?" Nabiki asked.

"No I must leave," he said as another crack of thunder sounded outside. "Gomen. I cannot stay in one place too long. I would be putting you all in danger if I stayed to explain." he said, with eyes staring wildly at the building darkness outside.

"I can take anything," Ranma said, also standing to face the unknown threat from outside.

Kaneda turned to Ranma, his face emotionless. "There is no man who can stand against the supreme forces of nature." He pulled the cloak up over his head.

Ranma noticed for the first time, that stuck inside the cloak was a latticework of chain metal. He could even hear the rattling of metal on metal as Kaneda adjusted the garment so it covered him completely from head to toe.

"I must leave now," Kaneda said, heading for the front door.

Kasumi opened the door for him. Outside the sky was dark. Not with night, but with clouds that seemed to swell and gather upon themselves, driven by strong winds that were rattling loose tiles on the roof, and made the winds chimes dance.

"I thankyou for your hospitality Kasumi-chan," Kaneda offered, making Kasumi blush slightly.

"Please come again Kaneda-san," she replied.

Kaneda stepped outside the door and paused, as if he were about to say something. There was flash of lightning outside, making everyone blink. When they all looked again outside the door, Kaneda was gone.

"Strange fellow," said Kasumi as she closed the door.

* * *

It was following night, and the sky had cleared of the strange dark clouds. In the Tendo home, a figure crept silently down the stairs.

Ranma looked left then right checking that it was all clear. He held a large pack in one hand, as he headed for the kitchen. He'd need a few supplies of food for the journey, as it wouldn't do to starve on the way. He raided several items and stuffed them into the pack.

With a now bulging pack on his back, Ranma made his way through the darkened house with quiet steps, heading for the front door to make good his escape. He was half way there when heard a creak off to the right. He paused, wondering if he'd being caught.

#CLICK#

Ranma blinked as the lights came on, and stared wide eyed at the trio of girls who clustered at the stairs.

Akane stood in front in her nightgown with a barbell in one hand, held over her head, ready to throw it at the intruder they'd heard downstairs. Kasumi and Nabiki backed their younger sister up, standing ready to give support.

"Oh it's Ranma!" Kasumi exclaimed, her fear of a burglar in the house disappearing. Akane lowered the barbell, and expression of disappointment on her face

"You're not planning to sneak out of here without telling us are you?" Nabiki asked.

"Ah, well..." Ranma held a hand behind his head and grinned with a guilty expression.

"Ranma! You were going to go to China by yourself weren't you?" Akane demanded.

"Why not? This is my problem!"

"But... I want to go with you."

"Akane, don't be stupid. I'm going to China. It's going to take weeks, so I can't have a girl go with me."

"You shouldn't go alone Ranma. What if you get into trouble or something?"

"As if I'd get into trouble..."

"Like running into a cat?" Akane interrupted.

Ranma froze. "C...c...cat?" He looked around furtively, but the room was empty of felines. He took a minute to calm down. "I guess maybe you could come along." _[It'd be better than travelling with Ryoga, and going with Shampoo would be a seriously bad idea,]_ he thought glumly.

"Really? Thankyou Ranma, you won't forget this. You can think of it as a training trip if you want. I could even cook for you."

"Cook?" Ranma gulped.

Nabiki thought it was an appropriate time to interrupt. "Ranma, have you thought about how you're going to get to China?"

"Well, Pop and I swum across to China the first time. It's not going to be difficult just swim back."

"Do you have any idea how long that'll take?"

"Well it took us a couple of weeks to get from Jusenkyo to here," Ranma said, leaving out the details about travelling via the Amazon village, and the numerous times they were attacked by Shampoo on the way.

"What if I told you that you could get there in under a week?" Nabiki said.

"A week?" Ranma asked. "How?"

Nabiki didn't reply, until he looked down at her extended hand. "20,000 Yen."

Ranma almost choked. "20,000?"

"Well, do you want to get there in under a week or not?"

"Yes, but..." Ranma emptied his pockets. "I've only got about 4,000 Yen," he said holding out the scrunched up notes and coins.

When Nabiki lowered her hand, Ranma looked downcast until she took the money from him.

"That'll do for now. You can pay me the rest later. I've being able to book passage for two on a ship leaving Tokyo harbour for China in the morning."

"A ship? That's great!" Akane said.

"Don't thank me yet. What are you going to do about school while you're gone?"

"What about it?" Ranma shot back. "This is a cure, a final cure. To make me a whole man again!" He said, striking a pose.

"Akane-chan, you're not just going to do nothing about your school work are you?"

"Um..." Akane hesitated, not sure what to do.

"5,000 Yen." Nabiki stated, her hand out.

Akane grumbled as she handed the money over to her Mercenary sister.

"That'll be taken care of," said Nabiki as she counted it. "You'll both have to be at the docks by 6AM."

"I'll pack some food for the trip," Kasumi volunteered, heading for the darkened kitchen still in her nightgown. Kasumi voice floated out as the lights came on in the kitchen. "And you'll have to take some warm coats with you too."

Ranma looked from the kitchen to the other two sisters. He considered them both as they had big smiles on their faces. _[Nabiki's probably thinking about how much money she's going to make out of me, but Akane?]_

"I'll expect you to pay me back every yen Ranma." Nabiki turned around, and headed back to her room. She stopped as she remembered something, and called over her shoulder. "Oh, and Ranma-kun. If you can't pay me back in two weeks, I'll start changing you interest."

* * *

They'd left the ship behind in Shanghai five days before, and Akane still couldn't believe that her sister had sold them out as labour on board a freighter.

"I mean I just don't get it. How could she?" Akane complained.

"You don't get it? I'm the one who still owes her 16,000 Yen, and I don't see any way of making money out here do you?" _[She'd going to take it out of my hide when we get back,]_ Ranma thought glumly. _[How does Nabiki always get me into this? At least she won't be able to take any more embarrassing photos of my female side. Heh.]_

Ranma's face changed into a grin at the thought of finally getting rid of his curse. If what the strangely cloaked Kaneda had said were true, then in a few hours, his nightmare would be over. _[No more old ladies splashing me at bad moments. I'll be able to take a bath again, without having the guys ogle me, or worry about being chased out by the girls.]_ Ranma was elated. _[__***And***__ no more Happosai trying to get into my clothes. I won't have to go chasing phantom cures with Ryoga, or have weird men trying...]_

"How much further is it?" Akane spoke up, interrupting his thoughts.

Ranma looked around at the countryside. They were between tall mountains, which were high enough to have white peaks all year round. Winter hadn't really settled in yet but the icy cold ground they walked upon crunched under their footsteps. Here and there a smattering of snow dotted the landscape. It was just as well they wore the heavy coats Kasumi had given them otherwise the cold would have stopped them long ago.

Ranma considered the terrain. _[This place looks very familiar.]_ "It's not too far," said Ranma.

Akane stole a look at her travelling companion. Six days they'd being travelling together, mostly alone. It's the first time she had had the chance to spend time with her 'fiancé' alone, without interruption by bonbori wielding maniacs, or psychotic siblings.

It was the first time they'd spent time together, so in some ways it felt almost like a date to her. She shuddered at the thought. _[No, this is a training trip, not a date. We aren't going to kiss each other when we get home.]_

But she couldn't help but be reminded of when she tried to cook a meal for them the first night. She knew her culinary skills were severely lacking yet she still tried her best. _[He didn't have to act like he was being choked to death though. Jerk.] _Akane sighed as she adjusted the pack she carried. _[But he did try to eat all of it.]_

The ridge they followed slowly rose to what looked like another mountain peak, until it eventually crested at a ridge at the end of a small hidden valley. Hundreds of small pools dotted the valley, some of which were hidden out of sight behind rocky outcroppings which split the valley into a number of branches that spread out in a number of directions. Bamboo poles stood vertically out the pools, making the valley floor look like the back of a porcupine.

"Well, there it is Akane-chan. That's Jusenkyo," said Ranma as he gestured at the springs. _[We're here. We're finally here.]_

Akane stared in awe at the place. All she could say was, "The accursed springs."

Ranma restrained himself from running down the slope to the springs without Akane. _[It'll come soon enough,]_ he told himself, as they climbed down together, scuffing the light snow on the ground as they approached. _[Just a few more minutes.]_

Stopping short of the springs, they found some sort of sign stuck in the ground.

Ranma dusted some snow off the sign with a gloved hand. Large Chinese symbols were written across it. Ranma stared at the sign, trying to comprehend the writing without success.

"I can't read it," he sighed.

#COUGH#

Ranma turned towards the throat sounds Akane was making, to find her pointing at the far bottom corner of the sign.

He leaned in close to make out barely legible Japanese kanji.

"Welcome to Jusenkyo. Closed for winter," he read. "I guess this ***is*** the place then," he added as he stood up.

Akane could only make a small sound through her nose in reply.

* * *

The small cabin that the Chinese guide usually resided in stood cold, dark and empty, almost as if abandoned.

"There's no one here?" Akane asked, as she looked around after dropping her pack on the floor.

Ranma was stacking some wood in the fireplace in preparation for lighting it. "No one except us," he commented, touching a match to the tinder.

Akane stood in the open doorway, and stared at the pools, transfixed by the very presence of those springs. _[Ranma, Mr. Saotome, Shampoo, and Mousse have all being here, and fallen into these springs. Are they such good training grounds? What about Ryoga-kun? Has he been here too?]_

"It's a pity the guide isn't here," Ranma said, breaking into Akane's thoughts as he slowly built the fire up. "I'd like to know what all the other springs are."

"Didn't you find out last time you were here?" She asked, closing the door so the warmth wouldn't escape.

"I was so busy chasing Pops after the accident, I guess we didn't have much time to listen to the Guide. We were so focused on our problems, that we forgot all about the other springs."

Ranma could hear Akane searching through the things in the cabin. He looked up when he heard the metallic clatter of an empty kettle on the table. He could only look at it, feeling a lifetime of agony waiting to be swept away, with so many memories, some good and some bad. _[So many problems come from this place.]_

"Well?" Akane asked, frowning at his lack of enthusiasm. "Aren't you going to do it now?"

He nodded slowly, knowing there was no point putting it off. He thought it odd, as he picked up the kettle, heading outside towards the springs. This curse of his had become useful. There had being so many situations where changing gender had saved his life, though when he thought about it, many a time that life had being put in danger because of the curse, or in seeking a cure for the curse.

Akane looked on as Ranma looked at the springs, seeking the Nyanneechuan. She didn't want to interrupt him, but she didn't want him cursing himself accidentally with something else... "Are you sure you know which one it is?"

_[I'm sure,]_ he said to himself, nodding in reply. _[I can never forget where it was.]_

It wasn't as if he weren't sure which one it was, it was more like he was taking his time.

He looked up at the bamboo poles, almost reliving the moment when Genma had flown out of the Shonmaoneechuan to subsequently knock him into the water below.

Ranma stopped at the edge of the spring, the very spring he'd fallen into what seemed like so long ago. He looked into the water's of the Nyanneechuan, and stared at it, almost daring it to stop him from taking the water he was about to scoop out. Except for the small ripples caused by a light breeze, the spring was calm, showing only a reflection of himself in the waters as he carefully leaned over the spring. The only sound to break the silence was the sound of water filling a kettle.

Akane watched, as he stood up kettle in hand, and walked slowly back to the cabin with an expressionless face. She followed, wondering what could be going through his mind right now.

The cabin having warmed up enough now, they hung their coats up by the door before crouching in front of the fire to watch a particular battered and scratched kettle as it heated up.

To Ranma, it seemed like ages, watching and waiting for the water to come to a boil, then wait for another five minutes as it vented steam from the top. Wordlessly, he took it off the fire, and settled it on the floor for a moment.

Akane could only watch anxiously, unsure about the entire process. The entire journey, initiated by one stranger, lead down to this one moment.

_[Now's the time,]_ Ranma thought to himself grimly. "You'd better stand back Akane-chan, I don't want you getting splashed."

Akane nodded understanding, and moved all the way back, until she felt the wall against her back.

At one point in time, she'd wondered vaguely what it would be like to turn into a boy, wondering if it would solve some of her problems. There was a Nanniichuan here, a spring of drowned man that would do just that, turn her into a boy. She shook her head, dismissing the thought as absurd, as she considered Ranma's predicament, and all the complications that have arisen because of it. It wasn't a burden she wanted to take on, willing or otherwise.

Ranma looked to Akane with a cocky grin on his face. "A full man finally," he said, before upending the kettle of boiling water over his head.

He'd known the water was hot, but nothing had prepared him for the searing pain that started at the top of his head and slowly clawed down his face and work its way down his body all the way to his feet. Ranma could only grit his teeth to stop from screaming out as the kettle clattered to the floor empty, hoping that this would work.

For a moment, Akane saw nothing except Ranma standing there in apparent agony. Then Ranma's features seemed to flash a moment. For a split second an onna-Ranma stood there with her red hair, then back again to otoko-Ranma. The expression on his face never changed, as he changed back again, flickering as if someone kept changing the channel on a TV set back and forth, onna-Ranma then otoko-Ranma, the back, then forth.

Akane would blink for a moment, and she would become a he.

The flickering grew faster still, until Akane could no longer see two people, but only a constant blur that held no distinct shape of either onna-Ranma or otoko-Ranma.

Akane had one bad thought suddenly run though her mind. _[Oh no. What if his boy and girl forms merge into one body?]_ She held an image in her mind of otoko-Ranma with breasts, screaming in frustration.

She could only stand and watch, until an explosion rent the inside of the cabin, sending two objects in different directions, hitting opposite walls.

Akane let go of the breath she hadn't known she was holding, and looked at the empty spot Ranma had being standing in.

Slowly she walked forward, knowing that she'd seen two blurs shooting in opposite directions. She looked one way then the other. On the floor, around the corner of the table, she caught sight of Ranma-kun's placid face appearing to be unconscious. Akane looked the other way, and saw Ranma's trousers and feet sticking out over the pile of wood, appearing to twitch by their self.

"Ranma!" She screamed. _[My god, he's being torn in half!]_ She thought, before slumping to the floor in a faint.

* * *

Ranma groaned, lifting himself up onto an elbow from the dirty cold floor. He felt a little colder than normal, and looked down to find his pants missing. It was a little strange, yet he could clearly see his exposed manhood. He let out a breath, but checked his chest too, just in case, but he proved to be man from top to bottom and completely intact.

He felt his face for the pain he'd felt after pouring the boiling water over himself, but it was gone.

_[I guess everything's alright,]_ he thought. _[But am I cured?]_

Slowly Ranma climbed to his feet. The first he noticed was Akane lying motionless on the floor, facing away from him.

He started to approach, but remembered his half nakedness, and decided not to venture too close. _[Akane would have a fit and punch me into orbit, and I'd probably land in another spring. Better look for those pants first.]_ He didn't wonder how the pants went missing in the first place, as he started looking on the floor around him.

Looking under the table, Ranma heard a moan. He turned to look at Akane, but instead the moan arose from the woodpile at the other end of the cabin, where a set of feet could be seen sticking out.

_[Who's that?]_ Ranma asked himself, totally blank.

The feet disappeared as the figure behind the woodpile made some noise as they struggled to climb to their feet on the unstable pile.

Over the edge of the wood, Ranma watched almost in slow motion as a head of red hair rose from behind the wood, followed by a very familiar face.

* * *

Onna-Ranma groaned in frustration. That fact that her shirt was missing somewhere did not concern her at the moment. It was the two well formed breasts that she could see plain and clearly in the slightly chill air of the cabin. _[The cure didn't work,]_ she thought as she shook her head.

Holding her pigtail out to the side, she could see the red colour of it in her peripheral vision.

She rolled off the wood, to stand up as she tried to remember if she'd done something wrong. _[I'm sure it was the right spring.]_

Standing up, something caught her attention on the other side of the woodpile.

Her mouth dropped open, as she saw herself, or rather himself standing there staring back.

Both the Ranma's could only look at one another with shocked expressions on their faces, and let out a simultaneous scream.

End Chapter 1

* * *

Author's Notes:

Okay, Kaneda Shotaro. If you don't know who he is, I won't tell you. He's from another Manga/Anime. Though I hadn't intended this to be a crossover, so you'll just have to be satisfied with my explanation of his 'appearance' as being a cameo. Hopefully he'll come back again to explain a few things for us, before he leaves for good.

One thing I hoped to do with this story, is actually maintain the continuity of the 'Ranma' universe, its laws of physics and whatnot. So I have no intention of creating or destroying what people are familiar with at pleasure (though I'd love to), unless it is required to keep the story going (this is a reference to the Instant Nanniichuan Powder). Unfortunately I've also had to twist around the time continuum to make winter come early. Fortunately I've never seen any clear sense of calendar progression in the series so far, so you'll just have to put up with whatever season I drop on the story.

I've avoided Shampoo, Ryoga and Mousse for now, which is best explained as it would totally freak the story if we had P-Chan ***and*** Ryoga running about lost. That's why another cursed character (other than the one's we or I knew) was required to start the story off.

The old guys had to be out of the way of course, so Akane and Ranma could be alone #COUGH#, though what happens from there is anyone's imagination (hey, keep it clean!) And the only person to do that is Happosai. Whether their intention is to re-live happy moments, or bury him again, time can only tell.

This is actually the second rewrite of this chapter. Not much has changed, except expanding on the story, and introducing a lot of elements and explaining everything that should have being explained in the first place. But it did get to what I was driving for, creating this unique situation, the splitting of Ranma into two.

Now he really is half himself... err herself, umm, well, you get the idea. Ranma what we once knew of, is split into two complete entities, one being in the body of the original un-cursed otoko-Ranma (oops, shouldn't have mentioned that spoiler), and the other in the onna-Ranko (the red-head girl) form.

One will be happy that he is a complete man again... thus he can face his mother without any problem (except maybe the panda). The other will be trapped in a female form, forever having thought himself a boy (another spoiler), but having that shattered by this... so called cure.

As for explaining the splitting (the effect, not the process). It's my thought that they are complete entities. Each Ranma is the same as he was before (another words, he/she don't have half strength), it's Ranma x 2. Name of the second Chapter?

Next Chapter (read with a cute girl voice):

What can two Ranma's get up to? What can two Ranma's get up to together (ooh, that's lemon material)? What will other people think? What will his fiancées think? What will Akane say when she wakes up? When will Akane actually wake up? Maybe she'll fall into a spring?

All this and more in the next exciting episode of "A cure for the curse".

BTW: If you have a more exciting title, then tell me. I'll have to consider it though, as there is a larger plot to consider.

Please send me C&C! And direct them to BillGates(at)Micro..., er.. to the address at the top.

Flame me, and I'll sick my legion of un-dead RPG game characters on you.

Bwah hah hah hah... er... well... I sort of missed my megalomaniac laugh.


	2. Ranma x 2

**Ranma 1/2: A cure for the curse**

**Chapter 02 – "Ranma x 2"**

Both the Ranma's could only look at one another with shocked expressions on their faces, and let out a simultaneous scream.

The room reverberated with both voices, until they overcame their shock and pulled their mouths closed. But that couldn't keep Ranma from staring at Ranma.

_[Mirror?]_ They both thought at once, and then shook their heads in unison.

They both noted the gesture and frowned in contemplation. Neither could understand why the other was copying their gestures exactly.

"You're real?" they asked each other in unison, and then answered back in mock anger. "Of course I am!"

"Then why are you a guy?" Onna-Ranma asked as the other said, "Then why are you a girl?"

Both of them sighed. "It feels like I'm arguing with myself," they said in unison. "Something bad must have happened."

Both sets of eyes drifted down, catching sight of the other's unclothed attributes. It wasn't that they hadn't seen them before, but they hadn't quite seen them from that angle. They both broke their focus, when they remembered that they were missing clothes themselves, and needed to cover up.

"Some spare clothes..." one started as the other finished the sentence "...in the pack."

Almost in unison, they moved towards the pack, bumping one another to open it.

_[We keep doing the same thing,]_ they thought, glancing at one another.

Using one hand each, they dragged out the spare change of clothes. Onna-Ranma pulled on the familiar red shirt as otoko-Ranma slipped into some boxer shorts and black pants.

Their modesty covered now, they both turned to consider the room. Akane still lay on the floor unconscious, whilst an upturned kettle lay in a small pool of water on the floor.

_[That's was the kettle with the cursed water,]_ they thought, as the pool of water was slowly creeping towards Akane's limp form.

"Akane!" they both yelled at once, as they leapt to her side and pulled her out of the way.

"I think I should..." Onna-Ranma spoke up. She hesitated when she realised she was speaking by herself for the first time. It took her a moment to remember what she was saying. "... I should clear the water away since..."

"... You're already in the cursed form," otoko-Ranma finished the sentence without thinking.

Onna-Ranma grimaced at the comment of being cursed, but nodded in reply.

He reprimanded himself. _[Baka! What are you thinking?] _He looked at Akane's prostate form. _[Akane of course. Focus first.]_

Picking her gently up, he carried Akane carefully over to a chair at the end of the table and seated her down while onna-Ranma found some old papers to soak up the Jusenkyo water with. She tossed the papers onto the fire where they smouldered for a while before burning up in the heat.

There was a fresh supply of rainwater in a barrel, with which otoko-Ranma refilled a kettle with and splashed her lightly on the face to wake her.

Otoko-Ranma moved around to join onna-Ranma at the other end of the table as Akane jerked upright.

Rather than find herself staring at a ceiling Akane found herself sitting at a table. She looked around, trying to remember what had happened, when her eyes settled on Ranma. And then she blink-blinked.

She rubbed her head with a hand. _[I must have knocked my head a little harder than I thought; I'm seeing two Ranma's...]_

She rubbed both her eyes, and looked again, still seeing two Ranma's. Akane looked from the tall, well-muscled boy to the red haired girl whose amply built bust was easily discernible compared to the boy. As they both wore exactly the same clothes, she had to look from one to the other several times, to make sure she was looking at a different person.

_[Ranma and... onna-Ranma?]_

Her mouth dropped open as realisation hit her. "Ranma!"

"Yes Akane-chan?" They both answered at once.

Akane could hear both voices clearly, the high alto of onna-Ranma along with the deeper voice of otoko-Ranma, but they ran together, perfectly synchronised.

"What happened?" She screamed out.

"I..." they both started in unison, then looked at one another. "We don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" She demanded.

They spoke in unison. "After I poured the water over myself, the curse..." Both of them faltered, looking at one another as they sought the right words. "It felt as if something was tearing my insides apart. The last thing I remember was something throwing me across the room, and I woke up over there." Both Ranma's pointed in opposite directions.

The last memory Akane had before she fainted suddenly came to her mind, and she gasped. _[He __***was***__ torn apart!]_ Her shock turned to nausea as she groaned and held her face to her hand. _[And now there are two of them.]_

"Akane-chan?" They both asked, coming towards her on either side of the table.

"Stop!" She yelled, looking up to see that look on both of their faces, the one that feared the Low Orbit Catapult Mechanism that was also known as her fist.

"Would you both stop talking at once, it's hurting my head."

"Okay," they said together, and then a sheepish smile appeared on both their faces.

Akane shook her head, actually feeling the throbbing in her temples. "Just sit down," she mumbled, hoping they'd at least do that.

They each took a seat opposite one another, looking at each other's faces. _[It's just like a mirror,]_ they couldn't help but think.

Akane had seen all sorts of weird stuff since Ranma had entered her life. People turning into animals, a ghost cat, teachers that suck out battle auras. This really seemed to be the icing on the otherwise totally nutty fruitcake that happened to be her existence. "It's so strange," she started to say. "Have you ever..." she trailed off, unsure about the entire situation.

"This isn't helping," both Ranma's said.

"Well, what do you want to do about it?" She asked them both. "This isn't a tournament. There's no one here to defeat and win back your body... your single body, is there?"

Both of them shook their heads.

"And that Kaneda Shotaro, shouldn't he have know about this?"

Both Ranma's stared across at one another over the table, only partially listening to Akane as they thought deeply about their problem.

#HUMPH!# Akane crossed her arms with a frown on her face. _[They're like two kids.]_ "Are you two even listening?"

"It's..." they both began together, and then hesitated.

"Real..." one said.

"Bad." The other finished.

"Damnit" Akane yelled.

#CRACK!#

Akane thumped the table with her fists, causing one of the thick planks to crack in the centre, right where the kettle filled with water rested. As her hand went down, the centre came up, causing the kettle to spray water all over both Ranma's.

Both of them sat there blinking water out of their eyes, unchanged.

"Oh Ranma!" Akane exclaimed. "You're cured!"

The two Ranma's looked to one another first before turning back to Akane.

"Akane-chan," onna-Ranma spoke up by herself. "That was cold water. ***I***... might still be cursed," she said, putting a lot of emphasis on "I".

_[She could be right.] _Otoko-Ranma stared at his other half for a moment, concern written on his face, until she suddenly turned to look back at him with a frown.

There was a large number of water carrying items littered around the cabin designed for heating, perhaps because the Chinese guide was used to dealing with travellers who inevitably fell into one of the cursed springs. A couple were hanging over the fire, already hot from their long duration hanging there.

"One way to find out!" Akane yelled, interrupting the odd stares between the two Ranma's as she jumped out of her seat, grabbing one of the kettles from the fire, and all but threw it at both the Ranma's.

Otoko-Ranma leaned out of the way as it sailed past his head, where onna-Ranma caught the kettle expertly by the handle.

"Warm water, not boiling!" She yelled back at Akane. She waited for the water to cool a bit, as the other two watched on in anticipation.

* * *

It might be said that Nabiki Tendo was up in her room relaxing. The fact that she was wearing her cut off shorts and tank top, leaning over her desk in a relaxed position. Any normal person would have thought she was unwinding after a busy day at school. But if any person said that, then they didn't know Nabiki Tendo very well.

She sat at her desk, both elbows planted against the hard surface, with a pencil in her mouth, which she idly turned about, pointing in different directions as she poured over her account books, examining the running costs of the Dojo and the household for the month.

_[Hmmm, a little short,]_ she was considering, even though Genma Saotome and her father had been gone for two weeks, whilst Ranma and Akane had been gone only one. There were the usual factors due to weekly damage done to the Dojo, and the food, but the excess incurred came from the travelling money her father had taken with him, and the bribes she had had to pay to get a berth on a ship for Ranma and her little sister. _[The Chinese Government Officials must charge a fortune,]_ she thought at the amount she was forced to pay to, even after haggling her best to get the cost dropped.

She took a breath through her nose as she considered the planned expenditures for the month. _[If we want a Christmas party this year, I may have break open the emergency funds.]_ Though Nabiki knew the costs well enough, she also knew she couldn't cancel the family Christmas party. It just wasn't right, and it tended to make more money than it cost, though it took a considerable amount of effort and Yen to get the party set up. _[I guess I'll just have to milk Ranma a little harder to recoup the money when he comes back.]_

She closed the books and leaned back on her chair, the pencil making circles in the air. Nabiki thought about picking through the guest room that Happosai used when he was around. _[Not even selling Happosai's collection of underwear will be enough to offset this debt,]_ she thought with a sigh. _[I've waited a week Ranma; I hope that's enough for you.]_

She considered her last option.

Just before Ranma and Akane had left for docks, Ranma had pulled her aside and told her... "Look Nabiki, I know you're going to sell this information to Shampoo or Ryoga. There's nothing wrong with that."

She'd seen Ranma trying to repress a smile.

"I'm asking you to try not to tell them too soon. We need enough time to get to the springs. Just a week, that's all I'm asking."

She thought he'd finished, but he said one more thing.

"If you mention China to them, they'll know I've gone there for a cure. Just make sure that whatever you charge them, you at least get 20,000 for the information on China. Any information relating to the Jusenkyo cure itself is worth at least five times that. It's nothing you should give away freely."

Nabiki couldn't help but grin at the memory. Whatever Ranma was, he wasn't stupid. She had no intention of giving away that small piece of information, not without the parting of a lot of Yen. _[The only thing I need now is someone to sell it too...]_

Outside, the front gate could be heard opening and closing, and then a familiar voice was heard crying out. "Ranma, prepare to die!"

Nabiki put the slightly chewed pencil away and got up from her chair at the sound of the challenge that most of Nerima must have heard. _[Sometimes that boy has the most amazing timing.]_

* * *

Ryoga Hibiki stood in the Tendo yard with his pack and umbrella on his back, staring at the house waiting for an answer to his challenge. "Ranma!" He yelled again.

Ryoga looked around the yard, expecting Ranma to pop out from somewhere, but the only sound heard, was that of a splash as a fish jumped into the air and landed back in the pond. Ryoga eyed the pond, but saw no threat from that direction.

The sound of the front door opening caught his attention. _[Akane?]_

Nabiki stepped out of the doorway, and looked upon Ryoga standing there with a slightly glazed expression. He shook his head violently as if clearing it of something.

"He's not here Ryoga-kun," Nabiki said a little seductively as she leaned back in the doorframe, accenting her physical features.

Ryoga eyed her as much as he would a snake or any other dangerous creature, unimpressed and unmoved by the lack of physical threat.

Nabiki sighed inwardly. _[He's only got eyes for imouto. Maybe I need a different tack with him.] _"Ranma's not here," she said, peeling herself from the doorway.

"He's run away again, and before I can challenge him," Ryoga said, eyeing the yard speculatively as if expecting his rival to be hiding somewhere, ready to jump out at him.

"Akane and Ranma have gone on a training trip together," Nabiki said, approaching the boy.

"A... Akane?" He stumbled.

Nabiki hid her smirk, as the eternally lost boy, now became just as lost in his thoughts. She held a closed hand to her mouth as she coughed lightly, bringing the boy back again.

"You'd like to know where they've gone, don't you?" She asked.

Ryoga nodded over-enthusiastically and waited for a reply. It was eerily quiet, until he looked down at to find an open hand.

"40,000 Yen," she said without any further explanation.

He coughed at the high price, wondering for the first time if it was worth it to chase after Ranma. _[But for Akane, I'll do anything,]_ he thought, as his resolve suddenly solidified.

Nabiki had to step back as he pulled the pack of his shoulders and planted it on the ground with a heavy thud. After rummaging around inside it for a moment, he pulled out a hand full of money. Most of it was Japanese Yen, but there was flash of colour of another currency from other countries.

_[Chinese Yuan Renminbi, Taiwanese New Dollars, even some Vietnamese Dong in there,]_ Nabiki thought to herself as Ryoga flicked through the money, separating out the larger denominations of Yen. _[Where has this boy been, and how did he get so much money?]_ Nabiki kept her face the normal cold mask she always wore, as she considered this. She only stopped, when she felt the bulky weight of 40,000 Yen placed into her hand, which she suddenly felt required a second hand to hold all the money, lest a small breeze try to take it from her. With precision, she flicked through the money, adding in her head, coming out to the full 40,000 Yen. _[And Ranma wanted 20,000. I suppose he thought he might be able to get out of his debt for the berth on the ship. But then...]_ She eyed the remaining money that Ryoga stuffed back into his pack with a pang of regret. _[There's always Shampoo or Ukyo I suppose.]_

She let out a small breath before speaking. "Ranma and Akane went to China a week ago, on a ship. They're returning to Jusenkyo with the instructions for a cure."

"A cure?" Ryoga's mouth dropped open.

Before she could offer the information to Ryoga for another sum, which surly would have bankrupted the boy, he picked up his pack and ran for the nearest wall, causing it to explode in dust and debris. When it finally cleared, Ryoga was gone, and only a hole remained.

"That'll have to go on next weeks repair bill," she said to no one in particular. _[I'm beginning to think that maybe we should buy our own building and repair firm. We could save on the costs for repairing the Dojo every time, and remove the Tax burden.]_ She eventually looked down at the stack of money in her hands, a small grin coming onto her otherwise placid face. _[Now, for Shampoo before Ranma comes back, and makes the information worthless.]_

* * *

Across the other side of Nerima, in the Nekohanten came the crash of crockery and the clatter of chopsticks across the floor.

Cologne came hopping out from the back of the restaurant on her gnarled wooden stick, to see what had happened. "What happened out here Shampoo?" She asked, looking at the girl bending over in her short dress to clean up the mess on the floor. _[If Son-in-law was here now...]_ she thought.

Shampoo stood up, with an armful of broken bowls. "Shampoo suddenly sneeze and drop everything she holding great-grandmother," the purple haired girl replied.

"What were you thinking about at the time Shampoo?" Cologne asked.

Shampoo paused for a moment in her cleaning to think about it. "Shampoo wondering where Airen is. Have not seen him for a week."

_[The girl senses something that I haven't. Someone talking about Shampoo and Son-in-law perhaps.]_ Cologne glided back into the kitchen on her stick, and prepared to open the restaurant, ready for the dinner crowd.

* * *

Ryoga looked around, trying to find a familiar landmark. _[How am I going to find China at this rate? I'm still on Honshu, but where?]_ He knew that he was still on the main island, because he hadn't found the ocean yet.

_[This has got to be the way to the ocean,]_ he thought as he turned down a street, feeling a vague sense of familiarity, but what Ryoga didn't know, was that a lot of the narrow streets in Tokyo all had a similar appearance.

After turning another corner, he stopped and punched a hole in a nearby wall in frustration, sending plumes of dust over the road. _[I can't get to China unless I find the ocean! Maybe I can ask someone...]_

He looked around furtively, spotting two cute schoolgirls who were standing a little further up the street. They wore no uniform that he could recognise, made up of a tan vest over a white shirt with a short tan skirt. They seemed to be having some sort of argument as he approached.

"Mica, you know the Commander said not to hurt any Protozoan life forms."

"What do you mean?"

"The way you keep teasing Akai. One day you're going to end up hurting him, and I won't be held responsible."

"I don't tease him," the red head responded flatly.

"I've seen the way you act around him. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had a crush on him."

"A crush?"

Ryoga stopped in his tracks as the red haired girl jammed her foot down on that of the green haired girl, eliciting a crushing sound, except it wasn't the girl's foot. A small crater formed in the roadway under both their feet.

"You mean this sort of crush Mica?"

"Ouch," Mica said with a flat expression. "That hurt you know."

#CRUNCH#

Mew looked down to see her foot was now squashed under her friend's. "That wasn't called for."

"I... I... I..." Ryoga's mouth jammed up and stopped walking as he watched the two girls turn the roadway into fine dust under their combined feet. _[Who the hell are those girls? Where the hell am I?]_

Ryoga turned about looking for an escape, when one of the girls drove her foot down a little harder, cracking a water main running under the street.

Water burst up, spraying out in all directions. The transformation was so rapid that Ryoga didn't know until it was too late, leaving some empty clothes, a pack with an untouched umbrella and a small black piglet standing drenched on the roadway.

P-Chan looked around to see the resultant fountain of water covering the scene where the two girls still stood, a little wet with the water spraying out from underneath their feet, except they were staring towards him now.

"Mica, did you just see the guy..."

"Turn into small pig? Yeah."

"Bwwwweeeeee!" P-Chan squealed as the two apparent monsters disguised as cute schoolgirls advanced upon him.

* * *

"No, no!" Onna-Ranma screamed. She ran to the fire, and ripped another kettle from the flames and dumped its still boiling contents over her head, screaming all the while.

She'd ripped her shirt open after the first kettle, laying her chest exposed, but there was no change.

Otoko-Ranma could only sit there, feeling a chill crawl down his spine as he watched his other half. He heard thoughts in his head, thoughts that were not quite his own. _[[I can't be a girl, I can't be... this has to be a dream, yeah a dream. That's right. I'm dreaming...]]_

Akane and otoko-Ranma winced as she screamed again pouring more hot water over herself.

Akane's earlier anger disappeared as onna-Ranma slumped to the floor on her knees, the kettle slipping from her fingers, forgotten.

"This isn't a dream, it's a nightmare. I can't be... I can't be stuck as a girl," onna-Ranma started talking to herself. "I'm a guy, I'm a guy... this is just one big nightmare. Yeah... yeah, this is one big nightmare, and I'm going to wake up real soon. It's just a nightmare..."

Akane came over and knelt beside her. She hesitated a moment, remembering all the times she'd gotten close to Ranma. _[But this is different,]_ she told herself forcefully. Carefully, she wrapped an arm around Ranma.

Otoko-Ranma felt the presence and looked up. Her eyes met Akane for a moment, but drifted to the figure still seated behind her. Otoko-Ranma could only stare back with a disturbed look on his face.

_[That face... that face... it's me!]_ "No! This can't be real!" She jumped out of Akane's grasp and levelled an accusing finger at otoko-Ranma.

_[What'd I do now?]_ He suddenly thought, almost expecting the short red head to rip the nearby table from the floor and pound him with it.

"It's all your fault!" She said.

He could only stare back in confusion.

"You took my body, and I want it back!" She said, clenching a fist and waving it at him in a threatening manner.

His anger took the better of him. "What do ya mean your body?" He shot back, jumping to his feet also.

"Yeah my body. You took it you hiretsukan thief."

Her words got under his skin.

"Ranma!" Akane called out, watching him crack his knuckles in preparation to pummel his opponent.

Otoko-Ranma had heard her, but already his mind was working. _[I can't hit her. She's... she's... she's me!]_ He slumped his shoulders.

"What's wrong? Giving up? You finally realised I'm right?" Onna-Ranma's face twisted into a grin, right before she lunged at him.

Otoko-Ranma hadn't expected it, but he saw the twitch of her muscles right before she leapt, bringing up a defence in time to soften the initial blow.

Akane could only watch as the two equally matched martial artists took to one another.

Onna-Ranma came at him, aiming a punch for his face. _[He can't wear that face. No one can wear that face but me!]_ She thought grimly as she tried to rip his face off.

Otoko-Ranma was already on the defensive, blocking her fist as he tried to twist her off side. She slipped his hold, dropping to the floor to sweep him off his feet. Bouncing back up off his hands, he landed ready but found his opponent missing.

The nearby table was the first casualty as otoko-Ranma was hit in the back, knocking him through it and reducing the table to kindling.

He had little time to resume his defence as she came at him screaming.

In his heart, otoko-Ranma knew he was losing this fight. He hadn't wanted to fight himself, which was why he had being on the defence from the start, but it wasn't getting anywhere. He needed to re-take control of this battle, and her anger was a weakness to exploit.

He jumped through the air, barely missing the ceiling as he brought his feet down towards onna-Ranma.

She saw the move of course. _[Too easy.]_ She stepped back to counter strike, punching up at his unprotected stomach as he descended.

_[She fell for it.]_ Subtle use of his ki as he swung his arms to one side, he cart wheeled in mid air, catching onna-Ranma by surprise and latching both legs around her chest. Using the momentum of her thrust, they flipped around and dropped to the floor with him on top.

The air rushed out of her chest as she fought to remain conscious. _[That was... I should have seen that coming.]_ She winced in pain as he climbed off her, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"You want to keep going?" He asked her.

"Ranma!" Akane yelled, finally seeing an opportunity to stop the fighting.

Onna-Ranma ignored her as she climbed to her feet straighten her pigtail. Her eyes narrowed as she contemplated her opponent.

"That'll be the last time you do that," she said, her battle aura starting to glow as she took an offensive stance.

_[She's got control of her anger again,]_ he mused. _[Does she really believe she can take me?]_

There was no time to consider anything else as the glowing girl came at him.

Akane could only watch as they went back and forth across the room, fists and feet flying, until one wall exploded out. She covered her face as wood chips and dust billowed through the room. Waving her hands about, she was able to clear some of the air, finding a man sized hole in one wall, with the fight still going strong outside, except that otoko-Ranma seemed to be slowly giving ground to the determined red head.

_[What's he doing?]_ Akane thought, as otoko-Ranma continued to stay on the defensive.

"Stay still!" Onna-Ranma called briefly before yelling "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken" and launching into a furious assault.

Akane continued following the action. _[She's fast. Maybe a little too fast.]_ She watched otoko-Ranma leap into the air to avoid the barrage of fists, but onna-Ranma was right behind him. Before he knew it, she'd leapt high above him, leading with a foot she came down at him from the bright sky.

"Ranma, watch out!" Akane yelled.

He felt the danger before he heard the warning, twisting out of the way of the strike that could have crippled, finding instead that he had to defend himself once again from the fusillade of punches.

"Give me back my body!" Onna-Ranma continued to berate him as they moved again over the ground, kicking up dirty snow as she attempted a leg sweep. "You have no right!"

_[She's been driven by her anger,]_ otoko-Ranma told himself. _[If this were Ryoga, it'd be over by now. But she's me. I don't want to fight her. I shouldn't have to fight her.]_ He was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost missed her call for the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken again. _[It's too close... I'll have to match her.]_ "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" He yelled, his hands blurring in time to hers, not to hit her, but rather to block each of her moves, their impacting hands sounding like a jack hammers.

"Stop ***blocking*** me!" Onna-Ranma screaming in frustration, finding each of her strikes thwarted effectively.

Eventually she stepped back halting her attack, finding her opponent mirroring her exactly. Her breath came ragged as she contemplated her situation. _[400, no 500, argh! I've lost count!]_ She looked at her hands, finding them red and sore from the evenly matched assault. _[I can't continue like this, it's wearing me down. I need to gain an advantage.]_ Off to the side, her eyes caught sight of the Jusenkyo springs, and a grin came to her face.

Otoko-Ranma saw the glance towards the training ground. _[Please no,]_ he thought, but it was too late as onna-Ranma took off, leaping into the air, springing from pole to pole as if she were born to it.

"Ranma!" Akane yelled, as she watched first one, and then the other Ranma take to the poles. _[Ranma no baka,]_ she thought to herself, though it wasn't directed either Ranma in particular. She had a worried expression, as she ran towards the springs. _[What am I going to do if you fall in again?]_

They danced across the poles above the springs, like moths around a flame, tempting a fate possibly worse than death in a flame. Jumping at each other, they would meet mid air for a few seconds, a blur of hands and feet, before returning to another set of poles, landing awkwardly until they regained their balance and launched themselves at each other again. Each time, the equally matched forces of the two Ranma's met, their identical battle auras would collide with devastating force.

From her unique position on the ground as she hurried between the springs to follow the action, Akane was the first to notice the destructive effects of the two fighters as they collided again.

She was surprised to see several of the bamboo poles suddenly explode underneath the two fighters. _[This isn't good,]_ she thought as a wave of energy shook the air around her. She looked up as the two fighters split off, finding new platforms to land on.

Neither of the two Ranma's noticed Akane below them, and neither did they consciously notice the depletion of the bamboo poles. Their eyes were only on one another, their opponent, someone worthy of their skill and power of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts.

They leapt once more at the air, seeking to dislodge the other from the skies, their battle auras glowing brightly and the ki focused as they clashed.

Akane screamed loudly when the shockwave hit her, picking her up physically and throwing her violently through the air.

It was the scream that broke their concentration, striking deep where their blows hadn't. They involuntarily pushed away from one another, falling towards the solid ground between the springs as they looked towards the tumbling form.

"Akane!" They both yelled.

By luck, otoko-Ranma was closer to the ground and landed first, but was off again before onna-Ranma could move. He was a blur, pushing with every ounce of his ki as he flew forward, leaving deep impressions in the ground where his feet had touched down. He could see her trajectory clearly, as where she would fall, lay a spring that held unknown tragedies.

_[No, you can't fall in! I won't let you fall in Akane...]_ But it already looked to be too late. He suddenly made up his mind as he put everything he had into one last jump. _[...Even if it means getting cursed again,]_ he finished the thought.

The last jump was enough to get him to her before she hit the spring, allowing him to push her out of the way towards solid ground, but it didn't leave him with enough momentum to save himself from falling in.

He had one final view of the glittering surface of the water when something hard hit him in the back. The water disappeared from view to be replaced by the ground, which he found his face suddenly buried in.

Akane stood up and looked around. Otoko-Ranma was digging his face out of the ground to her right, but onna-Ranma was gone. All that was left was a ripple on the surface of a nearby spring.

* * *

A thought ran through her head not quite her own. _[[…Even if it means getting cursed again.]]_

_[You fool.]_ She hadn't really thought it through when she jumped after otoko-Ranma, but for some reason she knew instinctively that he wouldn't make it. Right after her foot had left the ground, there had been the fleeting thought that maybe she was just being selfish in trying to keep the only real form of her body safe so she could reclaim it later. But her decision had already been made, as she struck the descending boy just above the unknown spring, leaving him with just enough lift to clear the edge of the water, but forcing herself down into its depths.

A sense of Deja-vu came over her as the waters of the spring washed over her body, leaving a sense of dread run through mind. _[What if I drown in here? Will I just become another tragic legend for the guide to talk about? No I don't want to lose!]_

Finding it suddenly constraining she was only able to thrash weakly about in the water as she felt herself struggling to remain conscious.

A memory washed through her mind, of herself falling into the spring, struggling to escape the confining waters. _[This must be what it's like to die, to have your life flash before your eyes. I'm remembering what happened the last time I fell in a spring.]_

The memory seemed to repeat itself a second time, but it was different somehow. She could see the brightness of the surface overhead, slowly getting darker as she dropped into the unknown depths of the spring.

First she saw her old hands in front of her, and then another memory of some hands that looked just like her own now, flailing about in the watery depths, futility grasping for anything to save her.

_[[It's not the depths,]]_ she thought she told herself. _[[I was dying.]]_ She heard the voice in her head.

_[Is this a memory too?]_

She was slowly suffocating as the life left her body and the darkness swallowed her. _[[And then I died,]]_ came the thought.

_[I died?]_ Ranma's mind turned. _[No! I don't what to die yet. I... want just one more chance.]_

_[[One more chance to fix things,]]_ a voice said.

She turned about, suddenly finding the surface the water ahead of her, it brightness beckoning her onward, so she pushed.

* * *

"Ranma!" Akane called, as she ran the edge of the spring.

She looked down but couldn't see anything in the dark depths.

"Akane?" Otoko-Ranma brushed the dirt from his face, to find what she was looking at. _[She didn't, did she?]_

Several bubble escaped the surface.

"By Kami-sama, she did do it," he exclaimed.

"Ranma, we've got to rescue her." Akane reached forward towards the water, but a hand stopped her.

"You can't touch the water Akane, unless you want to be cursed also," he said.

Her eyes held concern. "What if she drowns?"

He shook his head. "We can't do anything." _[How long has she been under already? She might well be drowning. If she drowns though, then this'll be all over.]_ Ranma tried to block out the guilty thought. _[But I can't do anything, can I?]_

He looked around, for something, anything to help, but the training grounds were bare of anything save the bamboo poles lodged into the springs, and he knew he couldn't pull one of those out without dragging himself through a spring.

Something looked familiar, as Ranma turned left then right, looking around the spring. He had a vivid flashback, of that day he'd first arrived at Jusenkyo, of the Nyanneechuan he'd climbed out of, and then returned to again a short while ago to collect its water. _[This is... it's the...]_

"Akane, this is the Nyanneechuan!"

"What?"

There was a splashing sound. They both turned to see a head of red hair broach the surface, gasping for air. They could only stand back and watch as the almost drowned girl climbed from the spring. She bent over and spat up water and coughing to clear her lungs.

"Heh, ha, haaaa." Finally she let out a clear breath that didn't burble or bring up water. "I made it."

"Ranma?" Akane called.

Slowly she looked up from the ground, to find two faces staring at her with something akin to surprise.

Realisation dawned upon her slowly. _[I fell into a spring... but I saved Ran... I saved the true form. And now... now I'm cursed again.]_

"What..." She started, unsure if her mouth was working. "What did I turn into?"

The two staring back at her didn't reply.

"Am I so horrible?"

"No..." Akane said.

Otoko-Ranma broke into a smile. All of a sudden he just couldn't keep it in, and burst out laughing.

Akane looked from the girl to him, and could see the funny side also as she joined in laughing.

"What!" The girl asked, then growled. "What's so funny?"

Otoko-Ranma's laughter subsided first. "You..." He snorted briefly. "You haven't changed!" He burst out laughing again.

"I what?" She yelled, as she hadn't quite heard it over Akane's laughter.

"You haven't changed!" Otoko-Ranma yelled back. "You fell into the Nyanneechuan you fool!"

Dripping water still, onna-Ranma looked around, seeing the recognisable spring, its edges. _[No wonder it seemed so familiar,]_ she considered. _[That's the second time...]_ It didn't seem quite right. There was something on the edge of her consciousness, a memory that seemed to say that this wasn't her second time here. That it wasn't the second time she'd fallen into one of these springs.

She shook the feeling off as she stared at the laughing pair. _[I can see why it's so funny, falling into the same spring...]_ She left off the thought as the contagiousness of the laughter finally caught her, and she was forced to laugh too.

* * *

A calm night settled over the Jusenkyo training grounds, the sky clearing of clouds, as the stars slowly came out one by one, turning the sky into a blanket of sparkling dots.

Otoko-Ranma was outside the cabin in his coat, finding the beauty distracting and the cold unbearable as he worked on making repairs to the wall they'd broken during the fight.

Akane had thrown a hammer at him. "You busted it, so you're going to fix it!" Akane had yelled at him, before stomping back inside.

"Un-cute tomboy," he mumbled as he dislodged the hammer from his face.

"I heard that," Akane's voice screamed back. "Just for that, you can't come in for food until you're finished!"

He'd thought she was finished, but following her last words were several planks of wood she just happen to find lying about. He ducked and dodged the airborne missiles, then set about collecting the wood before setting to work on the repairs.

Seeing onna-Ranma still seated in front of the fire from her soaking in the spring, wearing just her boxer shorts and a towel draped over her shoulders to hide her modesty as her clothes dried on a length of thin rope strung across the cabin, Akane decided to set to work on dinner herself. _[I think I'll do some curry tonight.]_ Putting on a smile at the thought of doing it all herself without any assistance, she spread out vegetables on the large bench, and set to work slicing them all.

Onna-Ranma was lost in her thoughts at that time. The banging of the hammer outside, the rattling of cooking in the cabin, it was all a distant buzz. She was so deep in thoughts as she contemplated her existence, that had someone called out to her that Akane was cooking food, she wouldn't have heard it.

She stared at the fire, not really watching the flames roll up the sides of a log, turning into embers that drifted upwards out of her vision.

_[Why did I survive?]_ She asked herself, but there was no answer, and she didn't expect it. _[I should have died in that spring. It would have solved everyone's problem. I'm... I don't really belong here. There's already a male Ranma. I'm just... I'm just...]_

She sighed. _[Worthless baka.]_

Outside, otoko-Ranma thought he heard someone and missed the nail he was aiming for, and slammed the hammer on a thumb. He swore, more at his own carelessness than at the small amount of pain.

_[I swear someone called me a baka.]_ He turned about in the near darkness, but didn't hear anything else. _[Must be my imagination.]_

Taking the distraction as a break, he stuck his head through the remaining hole in the wall, to peek inside. The first thing he saw was Akane attacking a large cutting board with a knife, slicing vegetables that she had found somewhere. _[Oh no, she's cooking!]_ He couldn't stop the look of pain that came across his face at that moment.

Akane stopped slicing, realising she'd already finished chopping the vegetables, and they were now beginning to look like finely shredded mush. _[Maybe a little too much,]_ she thought. The room was quiet, and she turned about, wondering why the hammering had stopped, and found Ranma staring at her with the most dreadful look of pain on his face.

"Are you okay Ranma? You look like something a... like something P-Chan had dragged in." She gave him that stare that just dared him to say something about her cooking, or about P-Chan.

Ranma glanced from her to the knife that she still held in her hand, pointing lazily in his direction. He swallowed nervously. _[Say something fool.]_

"Ah... Your..." _[No, don't mention it, you'll just say something bad.]_ "I, Ah... just hit my thumb is all," he said, retreating back through the hole.

Akane only glared back at him, before starting on finding some oil for the wok. _[Oil, there's got to be some oil for cooking around here somewhere.]_

Onna-Ranma turned her eyes down to the floor, finding the fire too distracting in the sudden quiet. _[Who ever heard of a real Jusenkyo cure anyhow? It... there's probably no such thing. This... this is like a curse.]_ She snorted. _[Another Jusenkyo curse. From bad to worse, that's my life. I wonder if it can get any worse. I shouldn't think things like that, cause it might happen. What's a little fuel on the fire...?]_

Reaching over, she grabbed a few chunks of wood and threw them onto the fire, sending plumes of embers spiralling upwards.

_[I should search for a cure. I could try the Amazon village, what was it called. Jocks... Joksu... Well, they might know something, unless the old mummy is their only source of information, then I might as well go back the Japan. But... I think somehow the only person who knows anything is Kaneda Shotaro. He started this whole mess. Just because he happens to turn up at the Dojo one day, and tell me about a cure. I suppose that's luck, but I don't believe in luck.]_

She was silent for a long while, as hammering resumed outside and the sounds of cooking started inside.

_[If I didn't do something bad in a previous life, then Fate must be a cruel woman. It just ain't fair!]_

She pulled her legs to her chest, pressing them close to prop her chin up with her knees, holding them tight as a single tear worked its way free and trickled down her cheek. Her breath came in and out in short surges, as she shook slightly. _[Why?]_ She lamented. _[Why did pop have to take me on this damn journey?]_

No longer able to cope with what was happening, the past and present troubles just seemed to flow together inside onna-Ranma head. _[Damn baka. It'd serve him right if mom decides to split his stomach from his mouth.]_

She wiped the back of a hand across her face, than wiped it on the towel, resuming her foetal position on the floor.

_[All he ever wanted was a 'man amongst men'. Maybe I should...]_ She shook with uncontrolled sobbing for a moment. _[Maybe I should commit seppuku. I doubt whether anyone would miss me.]_

Onna-Ranma turned her head, to look back over her shoulder at Akane.

So engrossed in her cooking, Akane wasn't aware of the two red rimmed glassy eyes staring at her from the hearth of the fire. She was stirring and mixing food in the wok, busy preparing her best meal yet, all for her fiancé.

"Akane..." onna-Ranma whispered. "I can't... be your fiancé any more. I'm not... I'm not worthy."

The door clattered open as otoko-Ranma came in, finished with repairing the cabin wall. The first thing he noticed was the smell of food. It was so enticing, that he was drawn forward to have a look. _[It smells good, but I can never be sure with Akane's cooking.]_ Looking into the wok however, he didn't find any burnt or unrecognisable foodstuffs. "Hmmmm." _[Maybe she's improved.]_

"It'll be ready in a moment," Akane said with smile. "I'm just gonna get the other Ranma." She put the ladle down, and wandered over to the figure by the fire.

"Ranma-chan, you want some food?"

Onna-Ranma turned her head away quickly, not wanting to be seen crying as it wasn't very manly.

"No," she said, not feeling hungry at all.

_[No?]_ Akane thought. _[That isn't like Ranma. Even when I'm cooking.]_ "Come on, you've got to be hungry." Akane leaned down, and put a hand on one towelled shoulder.

"I don't want anything," onna-Ranma said, but she couldn't keep the trembling out of her voice.

Akane heard it. She leaned down, and looked at onna-Ranma's face. "You've been crying!" It wasn't a question.

Onna-Ranma looked up into those deep brown eyes, and suddenly found she couldn't return the stare.

"Don't look at me!" She screamed, knocking Akane out of the way as she jumped up from the floor, and ran for the door.

Otoko-Ranma stared wide-eyed as she ran out the door, slamming it shut behind her.

"What was that?" Akane started, climbing off the floor. "Ranma?"

Ranma didn't answer, his eyes still glued to the door in concentration. _[Maybe I wasn't hearing voices. She is __***me***__ after all. It's... as if I could hear some of her thoughts.]_ Some of those thoughts ran through his head suddenly. "Che!"

"What?" Akane asked.

"We've got to find her quick. I think she's going to kill herself."

She only had time to put a questioning look on her face, before he disappeared out into the darkness through the door still with his coat on, letting cold air blow its way inside.

_[Ranma no baka,]_ she thought. Instead of charging outside, she grabbed her coat also, and picked up one of the oil lamps before going out. She remembered to close the door, so the cabin would remain warm until they got back. But she forgot the wok of food still bubbling away on the stovetop fire.

End Chapter 2

* * *

**Ranma 1/2: A cure for the curse**

**Omake 1 – "Tricks, blades and magicians"**

The music starts up and the familiar stains of "Where do we go from here? (You and Me)" can be heard playing.

You may touch me in dreams, but they don't stay...

Today you don't have much to say...

How am I gonna to face the light of day?

What have I done now?

Things are queasy unspoken, thinking it's for the best, then I look in to your eyes, and it's tight in my chest.

Hear the river? It tells of our goodbye...

It's late and they don't wait for me.

Sayonara whispers on the breeze...

I'll get in trouble...

Let me know what in your heart, that a good place to start, all I need is a small sign, then I give my heart to you...

You and me have still got, so much we need to say, friends is not enough, why can't we seize the day...

Don't you know I got no idea, from this point on?

So far to go until we both are free, you and me...

* * *

As we end the music, the regular cast of Ranma 1/2 stand on stage on the screen.

Nabiki (looks up at the sign hanging over everyone's head): since when have we ever done an omake?

Soun: Two OVA's, three movies, how many episodes?

Ukyo: I've lost count, there was so many of them.

Shampoo (confused): We did three movies?

Akane (grinning): You missed the third one.

Kasumi: Oh pretty lights.

Everyone (frowns at Kasumi)

Shampoo (crosses arms in front of herself): It so unfair. No one tell Shampoo.

Genma: (walking towards edge of screen): Since we've never done an omake, I don't see why we should start now.

Kasumi: Oh pretty lights.

Nabiki (grab's Kasumi and drags here towards the edge of the screen): Please don't start Kasumi.

Akane (also leaving): It's not as if I asked for this.

Cologne (headed for other side, leading Shampoo): This is not what the Amazon's do dear.

Mousse (chases after them, trips and falls sending his glasses sliding across stage): Wait for me Shampoo!

Ryoga (wanders off the screen, thinking he was still lost)

Tatewaki (leaves screen): I must meditate on this dilemma.

Kodachi (laughing manically as she prances off the screen, waving her ribbon)

Ukyo (heads off screen): I can't stand here I've got a business to run.

Happosai (bounds from one edge of the screen to the other with a bag on his back, and a pair of panties on his head): What a haul! What a haul!

Soun (runs after Happosai): Master, please wait!

Ranma (looks left and right, wondering where everyone had gone): Hey, we're supposed to do an omake! (Mumbles to himself) It's written on the script! (Out loud again) Oh well, maybe we should just run the cut scenes and the outtakes. That should keep everyone happy.

Akane (pops head back on screen): What outtakes?

Ranma: You know, all the pieces that don't make it onto TV. All the mistakes we made during filming. (Puts finger to chin in thought.) Like the one where you ran through the bathhouse and slipped on some soap. (Breaks into a grin)

Akane (walks onto screen): We can't show that, it's... it's so embarrassing.

Ranma: We got one where pop stuffed himself full of food before filming...

Genma (re-enters screen)

Ranma: Several of Shampoo, there's Cologne, Ukyo, Ryoga, um... some of Soun, and Nabiki, hah and even Kasumi.

Everyone (slowly comes back onto the screen, irritated at the threat of been shown up in an outtake)

Ranma (with a big grin): Then there's the oh, that ought to be really good

Nabiki: Just run the omake.

Ranma (finally notices that everyone is back): Oh. Um we can't

Akane (frowns): Why not?

Ranma: Where's my other half?

Ukyo: Why

Ranma (looking around for the redhead): Isn't she supposed to be here? This omake is after the first episode after all.

Ryoga: It's an omake Ranma. She doesn't have to be here yet.

Soun: Just run the omake son.

Kasumi: Oh pretty lights.

Everyone (They all face fault and collapse on the floor)

* * *

The pretty lights start flashing as the stage darkens. Another sign descends from the top in bright strobing lights: The Great Magician Mousse

As the lights brighten once again, we find Mousse on the stage by himself, with a small table in front of him, a strange contraption like a doorframe beside him, wearing of all things, a black top hat. It clashes with his white robe and thick glasses.

Mousse: I am the Amazing Magician Mousse

Shampoo (from offstage): It's Great Magician Mousse, baka. Read the sign.

Mousse: Today I will be performing a magical feat to astound everyone. I will require the presence of my assistant. (Holds out hand to edge of stage)

Onna-Ranma (shoved forcible on stage by unknown party or parties): Hey, don't push... what? What am I doing up here?

Mousse (flicks a chain out of sleeve and snatches onto onna-Ranma's wrist, and pulls her across): My assistant today will be the beautiful Ranko.

Ranma (struggling with chain): Hey duck-boy I'm not Sham... huh? I thought Shampoo was supposed to be you assistant!

Mousse (whispers to Ranma, but loud enough for everyone to hear): Just go along with it. You have a better stage presence than Shampoo anyhow.

A bonbori flies out of the side and hits Mousse in the side of the head. Mousse adjusts his glasses and glares off stage.

Mousse: Amazing Magician Mousse will now perform his Amazing act.

Shampoo (groans loudly)

Mousse leads Ranko over to the contraption. He opens it up, and gets her to stand still as he locked first her wrists to the frame, and then her ankles to the base. Finally he swings another clasp down to hold her head still.

Ranko (trying to turn head, but can't): What kind of magic trick is this? You're not going to throw knives at me are you?

Mousse: Nothing so simplistic my dear assistant. I have no knives on me at the moment. (He demonstrates this by holding open once sleave) See, nothing up this sleave. (He holds open the other.) Nothing up here either.

Shampoo (from offstage): Nothing between his ears either.

The sound of sniggering echoes from both sides of the stage.

Mousse (ignores the comments without any facial reaction and presses a hidden switch on the floor under his robes.)

Overhead a sandbag comes loose and falls on a particular girl's head with a dull clunk and knocks her out.

Mousse: Now without further ado, I will now split my lovely assistant in two. (Pressing another hidden switch on the floor, the sounds of mechanical popping reverberate overhead.

Overhead a giant blade swings down from the top of the stage like a pendulum, swinging left and right above the girl locked in the frame. As it swings right, the there is a clunk and the blade descends an inch, and when it swings back it's a little lower than before.

Ranko (trying to look up, but the frame stop her head from moving): What the hell is that? (She hears the whooshing sound made by the blade as it swings back and forth.)

Mousse (addressing audience): With the blade you now see swinging back and forth, I will split my assistant Ranko into two halves.

The blade descends a little more.

Ranko (screams): What? Are you crazy? Get me out of here! (Struggling in the frame.) Come on get me out of here! Shampoo? Help please!

The blade descends a little more.

Ranko (feeling the air move now as the blade passes overhead): I mean it! Someone get me out of this!

Mousse: For the sake of children in the audience, I will raise this curtain. (He presses another hidden button on the floor)

A silk curtain rises from the floor of the stage right in front of the frame. A spotlight from behind turns on, so the shadows of Ranko, the frame and the swinging blade are clearly visible.

Ranko (desperate now): Help! Help! (She starts screaming loudly as no one makes a move to help her.)

The blade descends a little more. The shadow now passes the top of the frame and the sound of it hitting wood echoes. Wood chips fly out from behind the curtain and Mousse bends down the pick one up. He holds it up to the audience to see before tossing it aside.

Ranko (continues screaming, no longer bothering to call for help.)

The blade descends a little more, and sends more wood clips flying.

The shadow of Ranko continues to struggle, but the frame is apparently more solid than it appears, except for the splintered portion above her head.

Once more the blade descends a little more, and its shadow passes though that of Ranko head and the screaming suddenly stops.

The stage is ominously quiet as Mousse takes his glasses off and polishes them a little as the blade continues to lower itself, its shadow swinging left and right as it descends through the still body.

Mousse makes no comment when he put his glasses back on, merely plays with the edge of his robe as he waits for the swinging blade to finally reach the bottom.

Time wears on, and the blade reaches the bottom. Mousse presses a hidden switch and the shadow of the blade slows its swing as it is drawn back up into the ceiling out of sight.

The shadow behind the thin curtain now shows the Ranko as she was before, but the frame looks distorted and bent in some places as if someone had taken an axe to it and chopped portions of it out.

Mousse: And now for what we've all been waiting for. (Presses another hidden button.)

The silk curtain falls away to reveal what we expect. A broken and chopped frame holding what appear to be Ranko's body, but her face is frozen in a look of horror.

Mousse (moves up to the frame to release Ranko, but upon touching it, it falls away anyhow in little bits): Now if my assistant will step down.

Grabbing one of her hands, Ranko starts to move. Stepping aside, from the frame, reveals otoko-Ranma standing in the same place as Ranko had been.

Audience (claps and cheers wildly. Wouldn't you?)

Mousse grabs otoko-Ranma's hand and leads him off the frame also, demonstrating that they aren't cardboard cut-outs but both sides of Ranma.

Both Ranma's (comes out of their shocked states)

Ranko: What the hell were you doing?

Otoko-Ranma: You were trying to kills us!

Mousse merely holds both their hands on either side of him as he takes a bow to the audience.

Otoko-Ranma: Hey duck-boy! Maybe we ought to try and split you eh?

The big curtain drops from the ceiling now that the act has finished.

Shampoo (from offstage): That was mean duck-boy. You no meant to hurt Shampoo like that.

Ranko: Let's split him and see how he feels.

Mousse (starting to feel a little afraid when both Ranma's grab a hold of his hands firmly. Quickly he presses another button on the stage floor.)

Overhead a bucket tied up in the rafters is upended, and water splashes down.

Shampoo: Meoww?

Both Ranma's: AHHHHHHHHHHH!

Mousse's unconscious form falls to the floor, sticking out from below the curtain, his hat rolling across the stage.

The lights fade from the stage.

End Omake 1

* * *

Author's Notes:

This wasn't exactly where I wanted to end it the chapter, as I had more to write, but it'll be in the next chapter. I hope you like this chapter, as I poured a lot of heart and soul into it, especially the last part, though it kind of pooled on the floor a little.

Something I realised as writing this. No matter how much fan fiction I read about Ranma and Akane, a lot of it seems, so... well... plagiarised.

I could be blamed for this also _[Okay, someone has already]_. It's hard, to write something, then go out and read someone else's, and find it to be exactly the same. Give me twelve monkeys and a typewriter... #HO# #HO# #HE# #HE#

Now bubbles leave the computer alone! _[Now where did I leave Akane's mallet?]_ #WHOCK#

Okay... The very point in splitting a person is you get two exact copies of the personality and memories. They should act exactly like one another, because they think the same. As time goes on however, their two different viewpoints and experiences will start to separate them. It's inevitable. But while those two consciousnesses are perfectly aligned, you have a phenomenon that is usually only talked about by twins, that they can share one another thoughts. Hopefully I'm the first take this to the split Ranma scenario, bwahah. (Please do tell me if I'm not!)

Another cameo appearance... Can you guess who they are? I'm setting myself a kind of pattern to have a new guest (or two) from a different Manga or Anime in each and every chapter. It gives a little meaning to the world being a smaller place than you thought. Tokyo is of course a haven for problems of most Manga. _[Gee, why am I saying this, you should know about it if you're reading this sort of stuff.]_

Constructive Interference: A physics term; where two waveforms of the same type actually reinforce one another. It's the basis for the resultant fight between the two Ranma's. It's actually their auras and ki energy that meet, and reinforce one another. The result was twice as much punishment and the explosive forces they released in almost DBZ style.

Next Chapter (read with the half serious voice of a male narrator):

Will Ranma and Akane stop onna-Ranma before she does something she regrets? Will she ever learn to put some clothes on? Is Akane actually learning to cook finally? Or will be cabin be burnt down by the time they return? Will P-Chan escape the clutches of the cute schoolgirls? Coming up next in "A Cure for the curse: The Duo of Death".

Please send me C&C! And direct them to spunkyredhead(at).j... (Damn, I wish), send it to the address at the top.

All flames will be fed to the cat.

C...c...c...c...cat?


	3. Double Trouble: Duo of Death

**Ranma 1/2: A cure for the curse**

**Chapter 03 – "Double Trouble: Duo of Death"**

"Hello? Anyone home?" Called a voice from the front door.

_[Oh my, we have a guest.]_ Kasumi carefully marked the book she had been reading, and placed it down on a small pile in the corner of the room.

Apparently she found she'd had a lot of spare time lately with little house work to be done, since there was only the two of them at home, she found she was able to catch up with all the books she'd been meaning to read, including the texts she'd borrowed from Doctor Tofu.

Unsure who the visitor was, Kasumi tidied up the room a little and straightened her dress before going to the front door.

"Hello again Missus Saotome!" Kasumi greeted her with a big smile, pleased to see the woman. "Won't you come in?"

"Arigatoo." Nodoka slipped her shoes off and followed Kasumi into the house, holding to her a cloth wrapped bundle and a large bag.

"Please take a seat," Kasumi offered. "I'll get us some tea."

At the sound of voices, Nabiki came down stairs to investigate who the visitor was. She looked on as the Saotome matron sat at the table as Kasumi went to get some tea.

Nodoka looked upon the middle Tendo daughter with a face of hopefulness. "Have Genma or Ranma returned from their mission?" She asked.

"Ah, yes and no," said Nabiki as she came and sat down at the table. "Mister Saotome and otousan left on a training trip over two weeks ago with their Master."

"Oh, dear." Nodoka held her hands to her cheeks. "That wouldn't happen to be... Ha... Hu..." She couldn't bring herself to say it, remembering the fear that Genma suffered from that name, and that saying it would only serve as drawing disaster to the speaker as lighting to an earthed metal rod.

"Happosai? Yes the one and only." Nabiki looked at the pale death like expression of doom on Nodoka's face. "There's no need to worry Missus Saotome, it's quite safe to use his name at the moment." _[Occupied as he is elsewhere in the country at the moment, or maybe those two have somehow managed to pull a miracle and gotten him a one-way ticket to Timbuktu. Not that I have anything against the Africans mind you. Though the witch doctors... hmm something to research later?]_

After Nodoka was able to settle down slightly, she remembered to ask. "And my dear Ranma? Where is he?"

"Oh, he and Akane went on a training trip together," said Kasumi as she brought a steaming pot of tea in on a tray. She placed out three cups and proceeded to pour.

Nabiki looked to her sister with veiled eyes. _[Please keep out of this imouto. You may say something harmful.]_ "They've been gone about a week, so they should be back in another week hopefully." _[At least I didn't have to lie to her this time. It's getting bad keeping track of all the fabricated stories I make up for Ranma. I'm going to __***have***__ to start charging him for record keeping.]_

"That's a pity," Nodoka said, sadness creeping into her voice. "I seem to have the worst timing." She brightened suddenly. "So it's just the three of you at home then?"

_[Huh?]_ Nabiki thought.

Kasumi's ever-present smile was replaced by a slightly confused expression.

"Is Ranko around at the moment? I bought something for her." Nodoka lifted the bag she had from the floor, and laid it on the table next to her tea.

"Ranko?" Nabiki suddenly chilled. _[Damn, I forgot about her. Training trip? No, too many of those, and... I know...]_ "Ah, she's gone home for a short while. She might come back, but we're not sure at the moment." _[Damn that was close. I hope that covers it.]_

"Do you mind if I look at what you got for Ranko?" Kasumi inquired.

"Not at all."

Nodoka unpacked the bag slowly.

"All those boys clothes she keeps wearing, I thought she might like some nice girls clothes."

"Ohh that's pretty," commented Kasumi as Nodoka laid out a floral dress with matching shoes.

"And I got her this..."

_[Well Ranma can't blame me for this one.]_ At the sight of the very feminine dress, Nabiki smirked inwardly for a moment before her thoughts sobered as she looked at Nodoka. _[She's going to be very disappointed if Ranko never ever comes back. I wonder if they really found that cure?]_

* * *

Genma adjusted his glasses on his nose. "So Tendo-san, how do you think you're daughters are doing home alone with my son?"

Soun sighed, thinking of his three beautiful daughters. Kasumi and her ever present smile and cheerful personality, Nabiki and her calculating face always looking at the world in terms of profit and loss, and his youngest Akane, his baby and heir to the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts.

"I'm sure they are fine, and your son is treating them properly," he said with straight face, hiding his concern in front of his friend.

"As long as the boy's kept fed," Genma replied.

"Yes there is that, but Kasumi always makes sure of that, and if somehow she can't then I'd bet Akane would gladly cook for him."

Genma's stomach growled loudly. "Even I'd put up with Akane's cooking right now."

Soun leaned his head between two of the steel bars, feeling his stomach turn at the thought of food. "How did we get in this mess Saotome-san?"

"Well, you know the Master. He'll go on a panty-stealing spree in some town, and let us..."

"That's not what I mean Saotome-san," Soun spoke up a little too loudly, then calmed his voice. "I mean, how did all this begin?" He asked his long time friend. "How did we get stuck with the Master in the first place?"

Genma turned to his friend with concern. "You mean you can't remember Soun? That blow to your head must have addled your memory!"

"No, not at all. I remember a quite a bit from back then. I was just wondering how much you could remember."

"It's been a long time," Genma said, gazing thoughtfully around the jail cell they occupied. "I think some of the memories are a little fuzzy... we were just a little younger then our children are now. Fresh out of the orphanage because we were too old to stay any longer..."

* * *

Two young boys landed on their butts, their pants dragging up their legs as they slid along the ground until they came to a halt.

A young woman dressed in a short nurse's fuku with deep red eyes and brown hair tied up in two buns behind her nurse's hat, stood on the top steps of a large building brushing her palms together as if trying to clean them of some filth, except the effect made her amply endowed chest shake visibly underneath the fuku. She yelled angrily at the two boys. "And don't ever come back you brats. Or by Kami-sama, you're going to wish that I kicked your butts this time."

She turned about in a huff and marched back inside, closing the doors behind her.

"Jeeze," a younger Genma Saotome said, shaking his full head of hair as he tried to drag his trousers back out of his crotch where they'd gathered up.

Soun Tendo slowly lowered his eyes from the stairs, the last image of the young nurse in the clean white fuku starting to fade from his eyes. He sighed.

"Don't tell me you're still got something for Nurse Nanako?" Genma asked, helping his friend up.

"I... I think... I'm in love!"

Genma made a throat noise whilst sticking his finger in his mouth. "I don't understand what you see in that witch."

"She's and Angel in white," Soun said, his voice still sounding detached.

"Well if she's an Angel, then we definitely aint in paradise any more. I don't think they're going to let us back in... ever."

Soun sighed, brushing dust from his pants lightly. "Then I guess we're truly alone in this world now, with no food, no money."

Genma coughed. "I wouldn't quite say 'no money'."

Soun turned to his friend, and grabbed his shoulders. "Saotome-kun, you didn't... did you?"

"Umm... well." Genma couldn't quite admit it.

"You did steal the collection box money!"

"I was hungry, and they weren't feeding us enough in there!" Genma argued. "And besides, there wasn't much in the box anyhow."

"How much was there?"

"Only 1533 Yen."

"Well that should get us something to eat," Soun said looking about the street for someplace to eat.

"Except..." Genma said.

Soun turned back, afraid to hear the rest.

"I've spent most of it already."

Soun could only bury his face in his hands, "We're doomed!" He cried between his fingers.

Genma patted his emotional friend on the shoulder, whilst trying not to look like he was supporting him.

"Awww, look what we got here!" A voice said, from behind the two boys.

_[Soun, you had to do that in the middle of the street didn't you?]_

Genma took his hand from his friend as he slowly turned around to face the source of the voice, a voice that stood for pain, suffering, and torment.

"A couple of ***girls***!" Keiji Hei said with laughter. Keiji's band of four boys stood arrayed out behind him, burst out in laughter together.

Genma stood silently fuming, as Soun half held him down with his hands whilst the group continued to laugh at them.

The laughter ceased when Keiji waved a hand.

"Bunch of lap dogs," Genma mumbled under his breath.

One of the boys stepped forward. "Who're you calling a dog, fat boy?"

Genma gave him an evil stare, which forced the boy to stumble back a little in fright.

"Hey Ichiyo, are you frightened of these girls?" Keiji called out.

"N... N..." Ichiyo stuttered, as he looked left and right to find the other boys not far behind him. "...No Sempai!"

"Maybe we should just go," Soun half whispered to his friend, then said a little louder for Keiji's benefit. "We don't want to start any trouble."

Keiji grinned, his lips turning up at the edges to become a snarl. "It's too late for that!"

The street became instant mayhem as the four boys and Keiji ran at the pair.

"Run!" Genma called, as he turned tail and sprinted for the nearest street corner.

Soun didn't hesitate, he was right behind his friend as they made a mad dash down the street, knocking over people, tripping over food stalls in their attempt to escape the beating they were sure to get if they stopped.

It was half an hour later that a panting Genma and Soun stopped, and leaned back against a wall to finally rest.

Genma turned his face up at the sewer grate when he heard a noise. He waited silently when a rat dropped to the bottom of the sewer pipe, landing with a splash before it surfaced.

A large sigh escaped Soun. "That was close. What do you call that move Saotome-kun?"

"I think I'll call it the Saotome Secret Technique number one," Genma huffed.

"You mean you have more?"

"Not yet. I thought it best to perfect this one first."

Soun chuckled. "Well it worked."

_[Yes, but for how long?]_ Genma wondered. _[We can't run from them forever. They'll catch us eventually, and give us a beating like last time.]_ Genma frowned. _[And we won't have the orphanage to protect us anymore.]_ He spoke up. "I think it's time to pursue our dreams."

"Find some girls and get laid?" Soun asked.

"No, not those dreams!" Genma rolled his eyes. "Follow the way of the great fighters, and find someone to train us in the art."

"Oh, those dreams!" Soun rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We're going to need more money too."

"Maybe we should head for Tokyo, I hear that if one is willing, there are jobs aplenty. We'll work hard, train hard, and eat plenty!"

"Now that sounds like a plan Saotome-kun!" Soun agreed, clapping him on the back.

It was on the outskirts of said city that Soun and Genma found themselves after trekking for days across the vast island of Honshu. The hustle and bustle of the metropolis seemed to waken something in them, and the smell of food wakened their stomachs.

"Let's say we go find something tasty to eat, eh Tendo-san?"

"Sounds like a marvellous idea."

Heading along the road towards the busier portions of the city, the sound of a disturbance caught their attention.

They stopped and watched as a small storm of people appeared down the street, headed in their direction. Over the clatter of feet was a single old whinny voice. "What a haul, what a ***haul***!" It yelled.

Both Soun and Genma stopped at the edge of the road and stood stock still as a very short wrinkled old man hopped along the road with a green sack that looked to be at least six times his height slung over one shoulder as he flew down the road with stray pieces of clothing falling out as he was been pursued by a large group of girls, some in school fukus, others appearing in ordinary casual clothing, and quite a few in revealing swimsuits that looked to be still wet.

"What a haul!" The old man yelled as he bounded into the air over both the boys heads, as one such article of clothing slipped out of the bag, fluttering downward in a spiral.

"Uh," Soun said as something hit him in his face. "What just landed on me Saotome-kun?" He was half afraid to touch it, unsure what the old man had been carrying.

Genma eyed the white double-cupped brazier with a small edge of lace that had neatly landed on his friend's face with a critical eye. _[Hmm. Not a bad size. Not as big as Nurse Nanako's though.]_ "Well, it looks like..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the group of girls that had been following, suddenly caught up and started pounding past, dragging up a small amount of dust, but not enough to obscure Genma's vision as a girl wearing a short grey school fuku stopped in front of the boys.

Whilst Soun couldn't see anything, Genma eyed the girl cautiously as she stood up on her toes and plucked the white underwear off of Soun's taller frame.

When Soun could see again, he found himself face to face with a vision of beauty, with long brown hair and deep brown eyes that seemed to call him.

Before he could even open his mouth, the girl bowed abruptly. "Gomen nasai," she said, and then took off down the street after the rest of the girls with stray article of clothing scrunched in one hand.

"What was that all about?" Genma asked aloud, as the dust trail disappeared down the street.

"I... don't know, but I think I'm in love," Soun replied.

Genma looked at his friend, and then shook his head.

* * *

"That was the day you met your wife," Genma said. "Your future wife," he added as he pulled up his legs into a crossed position on the one and only bed.

"Ahh, Kimiko." Soun let out a long sigh at the first memory. Slowly a tear formed and ran down his cheek.

"She was very pretty back then, possible more so than Nodoka, but I hadn't met her by then." _[Though Nodoka has her own special qualities.]_ Genma continued, "It was because of that incident when we arrived in Tokyo, that we... or should say, you promised Kimiko that you would put a stop to the lecherous thief that was running around stealing girls' underwear. A task that you somehow got me to swear to also." Genma winced. _[At the risk of getting a beating from a bunch of girls, including Kimiko herself.]_

"With no training and no idea, we proceeded into the mother of all lions den's when we trapped the thief, and had our collective rears handed to us on a platter, served with roast chicken, crisp vegetables, endless supplies of ramen..."

Soun found himself suddenly drooling at the thought of food. When he realised he wasn't eating anything, he snapped himself out. He looked at Genma, who seemed to be stuck in a trance, as he made motions of shovelling air into his open mouth and chewing with great squishy sounds. Soun raised a closed fist and clobbered his friend over the head with it.

"Arigatoo Tendo-san," Genma said rubbing his head. "Where was I?"

"The Master whipped our asses until we were black and blue, and ready to go squealing all the way back to the orphanage like girls."

Genma raised an eyebrow for a moment, but decided to continue. "That was the day that everything changed for us. That was when I created the Saotome Secret Technique number two. We bent down low to the old man, and begged his forgiveness for following him and attempting to steal the underwear from him. For some reason he had it in his mind that we were trying to steal the underwear for ourselves. I guess that is why he said he would make us his disciples, and teach us the discipline of indiscriminate grappling. Though I'm quite glad we got the name changed to the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts."

"A truly sad day in history," Soun said, his eyes near watering. "On the one hand I had made the promise to Kimiko to remove the demon spawn, and on the other I was given probably the best opportunity to do something with my life."

"Such is the way with life Tendo-san. It is fraught with crossroads that often lead in divergent directions. But I've never forgotten that promise we made together Tendo-san. It has taken us many years, but it will be finished, either by us or by our children, or our children's children."

They were both silent for a while, deep in thought until Soun spoke up.

"Genma, tell me truly. Are you happy with what you've done with your life?"

"My life... Looking back at all those crossroads, I have made many choices that may seem bad to many people."

Soun was nodding vigorously.

"At the time it could be considered that I made the best choice at the time. First it was for myself, then for my friends, and then for my family. Each time those decisions have gotten harder, yet also each time the obstacles in the road have become fewer, and the outcome has always been worth it. If I was given the chance to start over, I'd probably make all the same decisions." _[Though not in the same order.]_ "I wouldn't change my life for anything. I have a beautiful wife and a son who's growing up to become a fine heir to the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts."

"And I have three very beautiful daughters who all take after their mother," Soun said.

Genma could see the sad look in Soun's eyes. "Perhaps we should go home soon, and see how they are all doing, ne?"

Soun nodded slowly in reply.

_[Now, if only we could get out of here,]_ Genma thought.

No sooner had he finished the thought, than a familiar voice cried out from behind the wall.

"Happou dai-karin!"

Clouds of dust blew into the small jail cell as bricks and mortar vaporised in the intense heat.

"Well boys, are you happy to see your Master?" Happosai said, his voice full of the vitality that had been missing for weeks.

"Oh yes Master, yes!" They both replied in earnest.

"Let's get going then!" Happosai picked up a large sack and bounded out of the hole in the wall.

Genma and Soun looked to one another, with a set expression on their faces. They nodded to one another silently, before following their Master out of the jail, dodging falling masonry as they went.

* * *

Two dark outlines pulled themselves closer to the ground on which they crouched. The hill itself provided an unobstructed view of the figures below where they ran about on the iced snow that covered the ground. Each of them had a long shafted weapon, which they held to the ground so they wouldn't stand out in the partial light from the stars and moon.

Carefully, they whispered to each other in quiet tones, so they wouldn't be discovered.

"{Do you think she is there, the one we are after?}" One asked, with a decidedly young female voice.

"{Shhh,}" the other hushed her companion, also light of voice.

She sat quietly, listening intently as the door to the Guide's cabin closed again as another figure ran out, easily seen because of the lantern they carried, causing the icy ground to glow for some distance all around.

They could hear the girl below, calling out the name, the name of their prey.

"{She is down there,}" the other said, her teeth shining in the low light as she grinned wickedly.

"{Our big sister will be pleased when we tell her of the news, and present her the head of that red haired girl.}"

A second set of teeth joined the first as they watched the ground below.

"{We will wait until they go to sleep, and attack them then.}"

"{They won't stand a chance.}"

Both of the voices sniggered, before their shapes disappeared behind the hilltop.

* * *

Over the iced snow in the darkness, bare feet found little comfort. Up onto the rocky slopes overlooking the springs, onna-Ranma finally stopped running. Below, the springs took on an unusual panorama, as an almost still surface reflected the light of the three quarter full moon overhead.

She stood transfixed by the light as it rippled lightly across several springs.

"My life is kuso," onna-Ranma said to herself, picking up a loose rock on the ground. She rolled it in her palms, feeling the rough texture before tossing it lightly off the edge, listening to it plop into a spring several seconds later.

She stepped a little closer to the edge then sat down uncaring, letting her legs hang freely, as her hands sought out another nearby rock to throw.

"Not kuso. It's..." Rolling the rock around in her hands, she suddenly found half of it turning to dust as she squeezed her right hand closed over it. "...Turned to dust. And this half..." She hefted the intact piece still in her left hand. "... Gets to go on with his life as if nothing happened." She tossed the rock out into the darkness where it disappeared. The sound of it hitting the other side of the valley and rolling down the slopes echoed back towards her.

She shivered a little, finding the cold starting to creep in after her run across the valley half naked. She regretted losing the towel in the dark, but figured it didn't really matter. "It's not as if I'm going to be  
missed. Akane has otoko-Ranma now to look after her. Pop's always wanted a manly son, and mom... and mom... ..." Onna-Ranma found herself choking back tears. "She doesn't know I exist!" She tried to rub away the tears with one hand whilst her other hand went searching for another piece of rock to work her frustration upon.

Her right hand ran over the ground until it found something soft. Running it up a little she realised it was someone's foot.

"What do ya want?" Onna-Ranma mumbled behind her arm as she pulled her hand back empty, hoping fervently it wasn't otoko-Ranma.

"You know, I would miss you a lot if you left," a voice said as a halo of light spread on the ground around onna-Ranma.

"You're just saying that."

"No, I'm not," said Akane in the gentlest voice. She placed the lantern carefully down on the ground behind Ranma and worked her coat off. "The day you arrived, I thought to myself, now here's someone I can call a friend."

Onna-Ranma hadn't realised how hard she was shivering until the warm coat slid over her shoulders to cover her body. Unconsciously she pulled it close, feeling the warmth that was already in it starting to penetrate her skin.

Akane looked over the edge at the rippling reflection, and held her reservations back as she slowly sat down next to the shivering form.

"I know that I... reacted badly that time..." Akane swallowed. "... That first time in the bathroom." _[And the second time,]_ she thought to herself. _[Oh, this looks bad. How can I say all this to him... her? Dammit, I can't let her kill herself.]_ "It's... I guess I was..."

"Surprised?" Another voice said out of the darkness behind them both.

_[Damn, he heard us,]_ Akane grimaced.

Otoko-Ranma continued. "Akane had had a bad run with ***all*** the boys at school."

_[Jeeze, he doesn't have to make it sound like I was dating them all!]_

"And a strange boy shows up at her house, in the bathroom of all places, naked too, as if he were lying in wait to attack her. She was right to act the way she did."

_[Huh?]_ Akane felt a coat drop onto her shoulders. She looked around, and saw otoko-Ranma's face lean over and wink at her.

"She's had a hard time trying to trust boys, and having herself forcefully given a fiancé by her father and ***both*** her sisters, makes it difficult to adjust to... um..."

"Strange sex changing boys," Akane supplied. She saw otoko-Ranma take a seat on the other side of onna-Ranma who remained silent. "Look, we didn't have much of a chance last time. How would you like to start again?" She stuck out a hand. "I'm Akane. You want to be friends?" Though it was dark, she put on a big smile.

Onna-Ranma seemed to ignore her as she leaned forward and remained silent for a while, until Akane could make out the quiet whispering.

"Baka. Baka. Baka. Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka!" It slowly got louder until it stopped. Onna-Ranma sat up again and looked to Akane. "Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why be friends with me? I'm a... I'm... I'm a boy for crying out loud. Even under this." She poked at an exposed breast. "I have a father that hates me, and a mother that doesn't know I exist."

"That's wrong!" Otoko-Ranma argued. "Mom knows you! Mom knows you too well! It's me she doesn't know. She's never seen me once."

"That's the point," Onna-Ranma said. "She thinks of me as Ranko! To her I'm just someone else's daughter. The mother I'm supposed to have doesn't know I'm her..."

_[Daughter.]_ Otoko-Ranma thought. _[Oh che, I didn't think.]_

"How do you know unless you tell her?" Akane asked.

"And get our throats cut?" Both Ranma's shouted back.

Akane cringed back for a moment. "You won't get you're throats cut, you're not cursed anymore baka!"

"Oh," was all they could reply.

"If you could just go tell her about everything that has happened, maybe she'll accept you as her daughter."

"That's the point. I don't want to be her daughter!" Onna-Ranma shouted at both of them. "I want to be Ranma, not a girl, just her one and ***only*** son, without any damned curse. But now she'll have him, so I'm just... just nothing." She sighed as she kicked her heals against the rock face, sending a shower of pebbles rattling down the escarpment.

Akane and otoko-Ranma looked at one another over the back of onna-Ranma, unsure of how to proceed in trying to persuade the depressed girl from doing something they all might regret.

"Who's to say she won't accept you now?" Akane said. "She may surprise you, and not care that you're a girl and a boy at the same time."

"Or we may get lucky on the way home and find a cure for this," otoko-Ranma suggested. "We might even bump into Kaneda Shotaro, and find out that this is all just a temporary problem that'll sort itself out over time."

"You won't know unless you try. You could think of this as another challenge in life to overcome," said Akane. She offered her hand once again. "Will you come with us? Come home with us... please?" She pleaded.

Onna-Ranma looked down to the hand lit by the light of the moon. _[She called this a challenge. I suppose she's thinks it'll convince me by calling it a challenge.]_ She sighed. _[Who am I kidding?]_

* * *

When onna-Ranma sighed, Akane had thought it to be all over, but the warm embrace she received instead caught her completely by surprise.

Akane remembered the feeling of two healthy breasts pressing against her own. _[She didn't have to hold me so tight,]_ she thought with a scowl.

Her face calmed as she looked up at the two faces across from her. Onna-Ranma still looked a little depressed, her face staring at the cold ground as they headed for the cabin, whilst otoko-Ranma had a look somewhere between relief and wonder. _[It's going to be hell either way, finding a cure or living with the two of them. I'm going to kill that Shotaro guy if we ever find him, that is if...]_ She mentally rebuked herself. _[No we'll find him. We have to find him, for Ranma's sake.]_

As he opened the door, Otoko-Ranma found the warm air that flowed out of the cabin was a welcome place after spending the hours out in the freezing cold. It was then that his stomach's condition made itself known to everyone.

#GRRRRROOOOOOOOWWWWLL#

"Heh, heh." He guiltily rubbed his stomach as Akane glowered at him.

#GROOOAAAANNNNNN#

"I guess I'm not the only one hungry," he said as onna-Ranma proved to be a viable candidate for a 40 hour famine appeal to raise money for starving nations, though at the moment she just felt like feeding herself.

_[I should see how my curry is going,]_ Akane thought as she looked over at the wok on the burnt out fire. "No!" She screamed.

Both Ranma's immediately rushed over to look over her shoulder.

"What is it?" Onna-Ranma queried.

"Looks like... um..." Otoko-Ranma was at a complete loss, staring at the blackened, burned and indescribable remains stuck to the bottom of the wok. "What is it?"

"It's supposed to be curry!" Akane huffed.

"Oh, well at least it doesn't look toxic."

Onna-Ranma meekly watched as her other half joined the wall in blissful union momentarily, before sliding to the floor.

"I thought I had it right this time!" Akane said, as she attempted to scrape something from the wok, but the black bits broke off and crumbled. "Damn, and I tried so hard." She dropped the wok in defeat. "I was so sure this time."

_[Who knows, maybe we were saved from toxic poisoning this time,]_ otoko-Ranma thought gladly.

"There's always next time," onna-Ranma spoke up.

"Huh?" Otoko-Ranma looked to his other half. _[Did she read my mind?]_ He shook his head. _[I must have said it aloud... But Akane would have... Argh! I must be more tired than I thought.]_

The trio decided on the consumption of several dozen raw vegetables though Akane promised to make something in the morning, before settling for sleep though none of them were comfortable. Maybe it was the lack of a full meal, or the smell of burnt food, or Akane's promise of more cooking, or the pinnacle of the day's events resulting in the insane splitting of Ranma, or the climactic battle Ranma had had with himself, or all of the above. As it happened, the three individuals spread out on the floor in front of the fire found their sleep filled with insistent dreams.

* * *

Two silent figures crept into the dark cabin on bare feet. When the floor creaked slightly they stopped and waited, making sure they weren't heard before continuing. They stopped as they watched one girl roll about the floor as if she were about to wake.

Instead she stopped, allowing one arm to flop down in front of the fire.

"{It's going to burn,}" one whispered.

"{Shhhh,}" the other held a finger to her lips, as the girl near them withdrew the hand from the heat and rolled right over onto the redheaded girl in the middle, her arm slapping the dark haired boy who lay on the other side right in the face.

"Gomen Akane."

Both of them froze when the boy mumbled something and scratched at the bruise appearing on his face.

The girl rolled over again, appearing to find the lumpy form under her too uncomfortable.

"Baka ecchi," she mumbled.

One of the intruders was forced to stand back as one of the girl's hands started to scramble across the floor seemingly of its own accord. "Leave P-Chan alone."

Seeing a log laying nearby, the intruder slid it silently across where the wayward hand intercepted it, and drew it in close to her like a favourite teddy bear.

"{Stupid girl,}" one whispered.

The other tried hard not to laugh.

Remembering their business in the cabin, the two intruders stood over the sleeping redheaded girl, ignoring the other two occupants of the cabin as they dreamt of some sort of mundane existence.

Slowly they raised their weapons above their heads, poised to strike at the slumbering target. "{Sweet dreams, for tonight you die!}"

Together they stabbed down at their target, feeling the bite of them hitting something solid.

Looking down, they found both their weapons struck the floorboards, whilst the girl had rolled over and lay against the boy, with one arm wrapped lazily over him.

One went to pull her weapon up, but it remained jammed in the floor. The other one tittered. "{You should learn to use a real weapon,}" she said quietly as she struck again at the sleeping figure.

Instead of merely rolling out of the way, the out flung arm whipped over and hit the staff, knocking it aside to drop back again.

The girl with the staff hissed at the shock.

"{Do you think she is awake and pretending to be asleep?}" The other whispered as she rocked the tiger-fork free.

"{Why should she pretend to be asleep?}"

The dark-haired girl with the log stirred. "Ranma-chan be quiet, you're beginning to sound like Shampoo." Her free hand shot out and hit the other redhead girl in the chest.

There was a mumbled response that couldn't be understood by anyone.

"{The log girl mention Xiang-Pu,}" said one of the intruders.

They whispered back and forth between one another. "{Do you think big sister was defeated by her also?}"

"{Maybe we should give her Kiss of Death also, to be sure.}"

"{Who kiss her first?}"

They looked at one another in the darkness, and wondered how to resolve this, when the one nearest the girl with a tiger-fork spoke up first. "{I am nearest. I will give her Kiss of Death first.}"

She tiptoed forward. Holding her weapon at an angle so she could kneel down over her victim.

Akane had been sleeping lightly, a dream on the edge of her mind when the noises had taken her away from her dream state, leaving her semiconscious. In this state, any noise usually didn't rouse her completely, but the warmth of a breath on her cheek tended to trigger defensive responses buried deep in her mind that were solely reserved for hentai.

Her left arm came up, her fist striking the unknown person above her before she could even open her eyes. "Ranma no Baka!" She said automatically as she blinked in the near darkness to see what had happened.

She looked left. _[One Ranma, two Ranma... huh?]_ Her freshly started thoughts ground to a halt trying to work out what she had hit, when she saw a figure standing over onna-Ranma. _[Who...?]_ "Who is that?" She finally voiced.

Without warning, the figure swung a staff down at her, forcing her to jump out of her sleeping bag so she wouldn't be hit.

_[This girl she dodges good,]_ thought the intruder as she re-positioned herself to occupy the girl's attention.

Akane looked from the intruder who had backed off a little, to both Ranma's still sleeping on the floor when she felt the danger at her back. Rolling sideways, she felt something graze her ribs. Holding a hand to her side she found two adversaries, both of which were armed. _[I think I'm outmatched. Why hasn't Ranma woken up yet? Baka!]_ She cupped her hands and yelled towards the slumbering forms. "Wake up Ranma!"

* * *

A forest stood on all sides, with large moist green leaves decorating the trees that stretched overhead to a point where they appeared to join the bright blue sky where a yellow sun shone down. The scent of their fragrant oils hung strongly in the air.

Amongst the colossal trunks stood a short red-haired girl in a traditional kimono as she gaped at the tree lined forest about her.

Spinning about with her arms raised, she twirled around and around, feeling the tug of her hair flying out freely around her as she laughed in the filtered sunlight. "It feels good to be outside!" she said out loud, though there was no one near enough to hear her.

She came to a stop, stamping her geta on the ground, and let the dizziness wash over her for a moment, until a view of the family house slowly steadied in front of her.

"Keishi!" Called a voice from the side of the house.

The red-haired girl stepped beyond the thin break in the trees into the warm sunlight that invaded the clearing that surrounded the house and its meagre garden where a woman slowly stood from where she had been tending a few plants. The woman wiped her hands clean on a cloth before adjusting the long ponytail of bright red hair so it hung down her back.

"Keishi-chan? You're otousan should be returning today. You don't want to get your clothes dirty before then do you?" Said the woman as her daughter came forward.

"Okaasan, gomen nasai," the girl bowed to her mother, her red hair falling over her head before she stood up again with a lob sided grin plastered upon her face. "But I can't help but feel happy. Otousan is coming home today."

The woman smiled at her daughter pleasantly. "You have finished your training today Keishi-chan?"

"No okaasan," Keishi replied bowing her head slightly. "I was hoping otousan would show me something new from his travels when he got home."

"I don't know dear. He went north to find out what the Yamato clan are doing about the unrest developing on the mainland."

"Still it's possible he ran into some travelling warriors and traded information on a secret technique to defeat a demon in one strike." Keishi's hands twisted around one another as she slid one foot forward on the ground and struck at the empty air with a blurring fist.

"Two hundred years of peace on Honshu under the Yamato's..." Keishi's mother began as a voice called out from the front.

"Tadaima!"

"Hisasuke?" The woman queried with a frown.

Keishi took off around the house, her white clothed form a blur as she ran.

Her mother only shook her head, letting the reprimand slip from her mind as she heard her daughter call out "Okaeri!"

A tall man in travelling clothes dropped the large pack he had been carrying onto the ground as the white blur bounded up to him. Promptly he lifted his daughter up into the air and swung her round once as he lost his broad hat, revealing his slim face with long black hair tied behind his head as he lowered his daughter to the ground again.

"You're getting to be a bit big for that now aren't you?" He said, stooping down the short distance to her height to reach behind her ear, and withdrew a bright pink flower from behind her head.

"Oh, thankyou-thankyou-thankyou-thankyou," she said, taking the flower gently from his hand.

"Don't you have anything for me?" Asked the only other female voice.

Hisasuke turned to his wife with a broad smile. "I come bearing more than presents," he said before giving his wife a passionate kiss.

"Oooohhh."

Both parents turned to find their daughter staring intently at them.

"Go on with you," the mother motioned with her hand for her daughter to be somewhere less obvious in her staring, as it wouldn't be lady like.

"Keishi-chan, don't go yet," her father said. "I have something important, to tell both of you."

"What is it?" Minayo asked with a concerned voice.

"Some wonderful news Minayo-chan," he replied. "But first can we go inside. I've been travelling since before the sun rose."

Hisasuke picked up the pack he'd dropped as Keishi danced happily around her father as they headed towards the house. Minayo shook her head, picking up the forgotten hat before she followed them both inside.

The family sat around the low table in the family room, as Hisasuke cleared his throat.

"I've been north where the Hata family have settled."

"I thought you had gone to see the Yamato clan," said Minayo.

"I did, but there was something more important that I had to go see their elder's about."

"Aren't they from the Korean providences on the mainland?" Minayo asked.

"Yes, they're a big family and settled in the plains not far north, where there's lots of land good for farming. They have quite a few sons' all of age. After long discussion I was able get them to agree on having one of their boys marry Keishi."

"Marry?" Both Keishi and her mother repeated.

* * *

Onna-Ranma moaned upon hearing the loud voice that sounded like it was screaming into her ear. _[I was having such a wond... such a nice dream. Felt like pops was trying to get me yet another fiancé.]_

Two heads lifted up from the floor together, one black and one red.

Onna-Ranma looked though slitted eyes at Akane. _[Just Akane-chan,]_ she thought and waved a hand towards her before turning over to return to sleep. _[Maybe I'll dream of pounding Ryoga this time.]_

Otoko-Ranma meanwhile opened his eyes fully and looked at his fiancé. "What do ya want Akane-chan?" He said with a wide yawn.

"Look around baka, there's someone else in here trying to kill me!"

A voice in the darkness spoke up in broken and barely understandable Japanese. "Log-girl in way. Must die."

Otoko-Ranma was suddenly awake as he focused on the two dark outlines as they came at Akane with weapons raised.

"Noooo!" he screamed as he flew from his sleeping bag, knocking one aside as Akane dodged the assault from the other.

As the odds seemed to change, the two intruders regrouped together to change their strategy. "{This is not going well.}"

Seeing a break in the fighting, otoko-Ranma lit a lantern from the cooking bench, turning up the light to reveal the two intruders as two short girls in small Chinese battle suits, made from brightly coloured shirts and short pleated skirts. One held a bo-staff with pink hair, the other held a sharp looking tiger-fork and had blue hair, but both were unmistakably Chinese.

"Who are you?" Akane demanded, as she felt her side, which was still hurting.

The two girls held their weapons at the ready as they spoke.

"Ranma eat Shampoo prize and disgrace at Martial art show. Ranma deserve Kiss of Death."

_[Oh no,]_ otoko-Ranma thought. _[They can't be, can they?]_

They both re-positioned their weapons, pointing them at the still slumbering form on the floor.

"LinLin and RanRan will kill Ranma," one said.

"Is law," the other finished.

Akane looked from the two girls to otoko-Ranma, her anger showing clearly on her face. "They're Amazons. When were you going to tell me there were more of them after you?"

"I didn't know they were after me!" He said urgently, waving his hands up and down in an attempt to stave off any blows. "I swear this is the first time I've seen them!"

The Amazon girls saw the dissension in their adversaries, and decided to take advantage of the situation. They nodded once to one another and yelled something incomprehensible in Mandarin.

In perfect synchronisation, both girls started spinning together, the one on the left clockwise whilst the one on the right anti-clockwise, their weapons held horizontally at waist level like two eggbeaters as they slowly moved forwards towards the redheaded girl on the floor.

Otoko-Ranma jumped forward, suddenly finding the purpose to the spinning strategy, as one or the other swung their weapons at him at high velocity. He took several hard hits before been forced back.

The two Amazons continued advancing, their spinning weapons edging him back all the time.

Risking a glance backwards, he saw how close they were to onna-Ranma now. "Wake her up!" He called to Akane, as he tried to delay the deadly duo. He tried attacking one low down on her bare legs, and was thwarted by the spinning staff, then had to dodge the fork as it came for his head.

Onna-Ranma bemoaned the hard shaking she was given, forcing her to wake up from the strange dream she was having.

"Wuz up?" She asked the face in front of her which she slowly identified as Akane, as one of her hands idly searched for the missing blanket that had been covering her.

Akane simply pointed at the spinning duo, still swinging their weapons at the boy, who was finally forced to move out of their way.

"You woke me up for this?" Onna-Ranma asked, starting to close her eyes again.

"They're here to kill you, do you understand?" Akane angrily shook the girl again.

Onna-Ranma remembered what had gone through her head earlier that night, and the thought of someone trying to kill her now just made it all that much worse. "Why the hell couldn't they have come a few hours ago?" She said, shaking Akane off as she stood up on her own two feet, swaying for a moment as she faced two whirling Amazons. "You know it's one thing to feel depressed like this..."

Otoko-Ranma felt the chill crawl down his spine as the air pressure in the room suddenly dropped away as if someone had opened a door on a jet flying at 15,000 feet. _[Oh crap,]_ he thought, jumping for Akane and throwing them both to the floor behind onna-Ranma.

Onna-Ranma mashed the heels of her hands together and yelled. "Shishi Hokodan!"

The two Amazon's watched as the blue ball of ki energy erupted forth from the girl, finding themselves utterly defenceless against it as the heavy ki smashed into them, flattening them senseless against the far wall for a brief moment, before blowing them through and out into the darkness.

"What the?" Akane asked.

The lantern light flickered upon the remaining wall, revealing a gaping hole larger than before, where the ki had torn through the wall. One roof beam creaked in protest because its supporting brace had disappeared, showering the floor in dust.

Otoko-Ranma grabbed the lantern. "Are you two okay?" He asked the girls.

"Can I go to sleep now?" Onna-Ranma said as she slumped back to the floor.

Akane could only nod in reply to otoko-Ranma.

"I'm going outside to check on them," he said.

"Then I'm coming," Akane said, as she jumped to follow him.

Otoko-Ranma advanced on the dark maw, eyeing the destruction. _[I'm not going to repair it this time. I don't think we've got enough wood to cover this hole.]_ Stepping cautiously outside, Ranma looked about at the scattered debris, checking every square metre of ground until he found two forms further out where the blast had carried them.

Advancing together, the light revealed one girl lying spreadeagled on her back with her arms and legs at various angles. The other appeared to be face down on the ground, with her body curled up backwards over her head with her feet touching the ground where her arms rested.

"Are they dead?" Akane asked, as they circled the pair.

"I don't think so," Ranma replied as he leaned forward, noting the slight fogging of air in front of the Amazon girl's faces from the cold. "Just knocked out."

"We can't leave them out here," Akane said, holding her arms around herself as the clothes she wore to sleep had no insulation against the cold.

_[We could always dump them into a spring,]_ Ranma thought mischievously. _[But then I'd have two wild animals after me... well maybe after the other me. And I'd hate to drop them into the Maonichuan.]_ "We could drag them inside and tie them up," he suggested.

"And in the morning?" Akane asked. "We should leave..." she started, then remembered onna-Ranma was still in the cabin. "I don't think we're going to get any further information by staying here."

"And obviously the Amazon's aren't going to be a help if they still think there's a Kiss of Death on me... I mean the other me," otoko-Ranma added. He nodded in acceptance. "We'll leave in the morning for Japan. We can leave these two tied up. By the time they get loose, we should be long gone."

"Then you grab that one," Akane said pointing to the Amazon flat on the ground. "And I'll get this one," she said, moving to the girl with her crotch stuck provocatively in the air and her skirt draped backwards exposing it to view. Akane shuddered at the sight that greeted her. She glanced at otoko-Ranma who was studiously not looking in her direction. So she wouldn't have to continue seeing it herself, Akane placed one foot against the girl's side and shoved the Amazon over. Taking an arm, she slowly dragged the girl back to the cabin over the cold ground.

End Chapter 3

* * *

Author's Notes:

If you suffer from depression, please seek your doctor for assistance. Depression is a major factor for suicides in youth.

Okay, aside from the serious nature followed on from the previous chapter...

I'm trying to provide a linear timeline as possible (Sorry Al, Gravity/Neutrino flux can't be considered this time). If I haven't focused much on the other Ranma characters, it maybe because they aren't doing anything interesting at the moment. Mousse is trying to find his glasses which he lost in one of the cooking pots of the Nekohanten (splitting him wouldn't be bad, I guess... maybe... I don't know!), Ukyo is working her nice butt off both at work and at school simultaneously (If she could split herself, she probably would), Tatewaki Kuno is bemoaning the lack of Akane and 'Pigtailed girl' at school (he'd split himself just for those two girls, but would probably end up arguing with himself most of the time), and Kodachi is celebrating yet another Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts victory since she can't find Ranma at the moment thus making everyone's life a misery (and we don't want to split her, do we? Could you imagine her laughter in stereo?). Did I miss anyone?

Time distorts all memories, and you know old folk are very good a telling a yarn. Sorry, did I forget to mention I'm from Australia? _[They'd better not ask where that is. Mumble, mumble. I wonder how many readers I just lost? Mumble, mumble.]_

Apologies for using the name Kimiko for Soun Tendo's wife. Since it seems she never got a name in the Manga or Anime, and some smart person who was writing fan-fiction decided on that name, so it's stuck. Now many people have copied it and used it.

I have the darndest time writing fight scenes. It's so hard for me. I'm forced to read dozens of other people's work to get the flow and movement right, and then I still feel as if I'm not putting enough into it. Manga is a much better medium for it, but I can't draw for crap. Any comments on my fight scenes? Please? Pretty please?

You know I finished writing this and was ready to post, and forgot all about my cameo character. This was hard chapter to fit one in, but she made it.

I think I'm going to take a bit of a break after this chapter. Doing number 3 really felt rushed. So I need to sit back and relax, watch some Escaflowne, read something else vaguely interesting.

Next chapter (read by a really fast girl's voice):

Are-the-duo-of-death-really-knocked-out-or-are-the y-faking? Can-onna-Ranma-really-beat-her-depression-or-will- she-end-up-beating-on-heaven's-door. Will-the-two-Ranma's-ever-get-back-together? Can-we-expect-more-fan-service-from-cute-Amazon-gi rls-in-the-next-chapter? What-were-Soun-and-Genma-doing-locked-behind-bars- and-will-we-ever-find-out-in-the-next-chapter-of-a -cure-for-the-curse: "Dark dreams".

Please send me C&C! And direct them to TheGuide at JusenkyoOnline dot com. Don't fall into the online Jusenkyo spring, well just in case; send it to the address at the top instead.

All Flames will help keep Akane and both Ranma's warm whilst camping in the Chinese mountains.


	4. Dark Dreams

**Ranma 1/2: A cure for the curse**

**Chapter 04 – "Dark dreams"**

Nabiki looked up from the dinner table at the clock, looking at the time. _[The financial report should be on soon.]_

"Oneesan, it's kind of quiet. Do you mind if I turn on the TV?" Nabiki asked.

Kasumi looked up from the dining table, listening intently to the sounds of the house for a moment.

"It is very quiet without anyone else home isn't it?" Kasumi replied before nodding her head. "It's fine with me."

Nabiki picked up the remote and turned on the TV, watching as picture tube warmed up to show the weather reporter.

'… Looks to be another cool day as we head towards Christmas. Those of you who noticed that unusual weather pattern the other day, which obscured local weather radar and interfered with local air traffic has now moved off to the east and thankfully taking the winds with it. Now after this quick break, we'll be right back with the weekly roundup of the finances.'

Nabiki frowned slightly. _[Wasn't that the strange weather that appeared right after that the mysterious Kaneda Shotaro turned up on our doorstep?]_ "That's ***very*** interesting."

"What was that imouto?" Kasumi spoke up.

"Oh, nothing," Nabiki replied quickly. "Nothing at all."

* * *

Acrid grey smoke blew across the ground in a thick haze stinging the eyes and making breathing difficult. The grass fires ringed the area like a personal arena, lighting the dozens of enemies distinctly in their brown leather armour and plate helmets that sat open upon their heads.

From amongst the bodies on the ground came the grunts and cries of those in agony from wounds suffered at the hands of the few who stood defiantly in the face of the oncoming army governed by General Hsiao Yen.

Their General was nowhere near this battle of course, as he led over a dozen battalions far to the west, avoiding the rugged terrain of the mountains, sending instead only a single battalion to quell the region and remove by force any Chinese citizens still devoted to General Sung and the Ch'I Dynasty.

Fresh infantry swarmed in over the blackened ground, facing off the motley group of defenders consisting of three Amazons and two foreigners.

The Amazon's presence wasn't unheard of as their villages lay scattered about the Province and they defended them equally from invaders and the Dynastic regimes that professed to rule over them. But it was the two foreigners, strangely dressed as they were that bore the most attention. That fact that one of them was a man was distinctly out of place, since the Amazons were not known to associate with the males of the species except to further the tribe. That he stood among them, as an equal as it were, armed with an unsheathed and bloodied katana, showed that not only was his presence accepted, but he was trusted.

The other stranger, whilst not so out of place as the man standing amongst the Amazon's, was still not of Chinese origin. She stood shorter than the older Amazons, younger in appearance that she had not yet seen eighteen winters, but her face and her mannerisms dictated that she'd seen more than any normal eighteen year old. Her long red hair stained bronze contrasted with the colourful costume she wore, with long splits down both side revealing bare legs down to the boots. Like the katana, the naginata in her hands was not of Chinese origin. Its long staff held downward at the ready, the curved blade on the end held facing upward in anticipation of the oncoming horde.

The red head spoke up without glancing at her companion. "Yukito-kun, are you ready?"

Yukito spared a glance at his iinazuke, seeing her determined face set in a feral grin. "Nothing can stop the fiery Keishi, heir of the Asakura family," he said glibly, before narrowing his eyes at the second wave of invaders. "Or her hard headed fiancé."

Keishi's mouth softened momentarily, feeling the warmth of her emotions flow through her body before bringing them in check.

"They come," one of the Amazons said as the front line of forces started their concerted rush with a loud scream.

Keishi snapped the blade of her weapon up to face level, striking forward at her first target whist they were still out of sword reach. She didn't spare a second glance at the man whom she'd just killed, drawing her naginata back enough to dislodge it from the eye socket it had embedded itself in, and sliced sideways at the fallen man's companion, finding an unprotected neck with the sharp blade.

After Keishi had downed her third attacker, Yukito came face to face with his first opponent. The Chinese soldier wearing the markings of General Hsiao Yen spared no emotion for his fallen comrades, holding his shield up to protect his side and swinging his sword, he came at the foreign man who stood in the open without armour or shield to protect him.

Yukito invested no time in playing with the soldier, ducking the bad attempt to cave his head in with the poorly made sword, slashing at the soldier's unprotected legs. The soldier fell over, screaming in agony as he let go of both sword and shield to clutch futilely at where his legs used to be.

Keishi turned about, finding most of her opponents deciding to stay out of her superior reach, to concentrate on the three Amazon's and her iinazuke. She noted gladly that he was no longer wasting his time on any single opponent to either incapacitate or kill outright, instead using single thrusts or slashes that left many men lying on the ground holding amputated limbs or stomachs in.

A feeling to her rear, made Keishi turn about raising her naginata in front of her in time to catch the heavy thud of a sword impact against it. Too close to her enemy to use her weapon effectively, she jumped back, swinging the blunt end of her weapon up to be deflected off the shield of her opponent as she gauged the man's weaknesses.

A yell to her right caught her attention, and she turned to see another soldier almost upon her, his sword swinging down towards her head.

* * *

"Aaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Onna-Ranma sat upright, breathing hard as she tried to calm her body, as her heart seemed to be racing as if she'd just finished a four-hour workout with her father and Ryoga together. _[It's just a nightmare. Just a... very realistic nightmare.]_ She felt her face, and felt the beads of perspiration that covered her and soaked her sleepwear. _[That was so strange. It felt... almost as if I was there. I've never had a dream like that. It's nothing like the one where Kuno tried to marry me...]_ She shivered violently at the thought, wishing she hadn't remembered that one, but the dream seemed to dredge up all sorts of feelings she'd never had before.

The smell of smoke still lingered in her nostrils, drawing her attention to a freshly placed log on the fire which sputtered and spat smoke.

"Finally awake eh?" Said a voice.

Onna-Ranma looked around, realising it was quite bright inside the cabin.

Above her stood otoko-Ranma, who held a bowl out to her. Taking a sniff, she could smell the delectable scent of cooked food even over the smoke. Flinging the blanket off, she stood up and took the bowl from him and stared at its contents hungrily. Something nagged at the back of mind, but she couldn't tell what it was. Dismissing the thoughts as remnants of the dream, she dug into the food with a couple of chopsticks tossing huge chunks into her mouth until the taste hit her.

Otoko-Ranma just watched as she collapsed to the floor twitching as her face turned grey. "Yep, it's toxic," he commented, gratified that he'd been right in his assumption.

Something hard caught him in the back of the head, and he'd swear he heard someone say "Ranma no baka," as the cabin roof flashed past his eyes. "Kawaikunee tomboy," he mumbled as he flew upwards into the bright morning sky, passing a few startled birds that squawked as they dodged the unusual airborne object invading their morning hunt.

Akane grabbed the bowl from onna-Ranma's hand, which continued to spasm, and took a taste with the chopsticks. "It's not that..." she started to say before her face too drained of colour. "Maybe some more wine to cover the bitterness," she said to herself as she struggled to walk back to the stove and the wok.

As onna-Ranma slowly found consciousness returning, she was able to stand up and look around. There was a large hole in one wall that she didn't remember seeing it there last night when she went to sleep. The tent that they'd used to sleep in on the way to Jusenkyo was neatly tied across the opening to seal off cold outside air. The new hole in the roof however precluded that, letting the chill air in.

There was something else in the room that caught her attention, because its bright colour was very out of place in the austere cabin. Two of them in fact, sitting on the floor backs against one wall and tied tightly in long lengths of rope.

"Akane?" Ranma looked up, finding the girl busy trying to improve upon her breakfast.

"Yes?" Akane stopped what she was doing at the stove to wander over.

"Umm, who's this?"

Akane stared down at the two forms that appeared to be still slumbering from the early morning escapade. "You don't remember last night?"

"I... not exactly." Her mind was a blank. She couldn't remember anything from last night except the weird dreams. They didn't seem to go away like a regular dream and become forgotten. Instead they seemed to linger, almost as if forcing her to recall every detail from them until they were burned into her own memory.

"Don't they look familiar at all?" Akane looked at onna-Ranma, wondering for the first time if girl was suffering from some sort of mental problem.

"I don't know." She shook her head. "They're Amazon's from Shampoo's village maybe."

There was a thumping sound from the floor. Both Akane and onna-Ranma looked back down to see two sets of open eyes staring malevolently up at them.

"Log girl will pay for interfering," the pink haired LinLin said, struggling at the tight bonds.

"Deserve Kiss of Death log girl does," said RanRan.

"Who're you calling log girl?" Akane planted her hands on her hips as she stood over the two Amazons.

The two Amazons switched to Mandarin to converse between themselves.

"{Log girl is trying to intimidate us,}" RanRan commented.

"What are you saying?" Akane demanded.

"{She seems to lose her temper easily,}" observed LinLin. "{Maybe if we insult her, she might accidentally free us. Do you know any good swear words in Japanese?}"

"What are you talking about?" Akane almost screamed in their faces.

"{Maybe we don't need any Japanese. She seems to be getting very agitated by not understanding us.}"

LinLin and RanRan sniggered in their light tones to one another.

The cabin door swung open as otoko-Ranma walked in, pushing the door firmly closed behind him before finding himself facing four suddenly silent girls. All thoughts about Akane's cooking were gone completely as he noted that Akane seemed to be very agitated, though for once it didn't seem to be directed at him, for which he felt grateful. Instead it was directed at the two Amazons.

"Did I miss anything?" He asked cautiously.

Akane's gaze of death disappeared as soon as she heard his voice, and turned about towards him. "And what took you so long Ranma?"

"I thought I'd do a little exercise whilst I was out on the other side of the valley," he laughed a little with one hand behind his head to cover his nervousness at the cross-examination. _[What did I do wrong now?]_

One of the Amazon's suddenly spoke up. "He is Ranma? But I thought girl was Ranma."

"{Are we sure big sister Xiang-Pu give us right name?}" LinLin asked. "{Might we be chasing the wrong girl?}"

Akane and otoko-Ranma looked from one Amazon to the other as they argued between themselves in Chinese.

"{She never mentioned a boy,}" said RanRan. "{Only that the girl was called Ranma. We saw her at tournament ourselves. That is her there with red hair.}" She nodded her head in the direction of onna-Ranma.

"{Then why is boy called Ranma also?}" LinLin questioned.

"{Maybe big sister forgot to tell us,}" Replied RanRan. "{It does not matter, as he is only a weak worthless man after all.}"

"{Who are you calling weak and worthless?}" Screamed a voice.

Both Amazons turned towards the speaker, their faces showing a little shock at hearing their own language coming forth from the read headed girl.

Onna-Ranma continued her discourse in a very hostile manner. "{This so called weak and worthless man has already defeated your precious sister Xiang-Pu in combat. And he'd be happy to accept your challenge any time.}"

LinLin made as if to choke, but RanRan spoke up first. "{That man? The one that log-girl smashed through the roof before? Weak and useless, like all men,}" she said with contempt.

Onna-Ranma cracked her knuckles as she advanced forward, an aura beginning to form around her, its tendrils licking blue coloured flames that made her hair appear almost as if it were on fire, causing the dampness in her clothes to evaporate in long wisps trailing out into the air.

Before she could get any closer though, Akane and otoko-Ranma stepped in her way, grabbing her shoulders. Akane was yelling something at her, and it took her almost a minute to calm down before she understood.

"Ranma-chan! What are you doing? You trying to kill them?" Akane was saying.

Onna-Ranma blinked, the aura evaporated almost as quickly as it had appeared, and she slumped her shoulders. "I... don't know."

"What the hell happened?" Otoko-Ranma asked, still griping her shoulders hard. "It sounded like you were speaking Chinese."

She looked to her other half with a confused expression. "I was? I thought... they were calling us weak... I just..." She shook her head, trying to order the chaotic images and feelings.

Akane turned away from both Ranma's to face the two Amazons. _[It's their fault for interfering. I don't want to hear them talking between one another, no matter what language it is.]_ She leaned over one of the girls, grabbing the ends of the rope that was bound tightly around the Amazon.

When Akane stood up again there was a slight grin. "We don't need to hear either of you two now," she said jamming a loose coil in the Amazon's mouth and tying it off. The other girl didn't voice any protest as she did the same to her, making sure the two stayed silent.

Only when Akane turned away, did the two Amazon girls look up with deep loathing in their eyes, though it was directed not at Akane, but instead at the short red head that just stood there staring back at them with an expressionless face.

_[That Ranma girl very dangerous,]_ RanRan thought to herself. _[It is no wonder big sister has not yet defeated her. She is very strong. We must train harder and find new techniques.]_

LinLin's thoughts were directed towards a particular idea. _[The Dance of the Great Fire Dragon. It may be only chance of defeating girl. Ancient scroll of ultimate attack was hidden away during last war.]_

Onna-Ranma sat down on one of the intact chairs and planted her elbows on her knees, with her chin on her hands to stare at the Amazons who each were beginning to grin behind their impromptu gags. _[Who are they? What happened last night?]_

"They broke in last night," said otoko-Ranma. "They said they were here to kill you."

"Like as if we don't have enough crazy Amazons already," Akane pointed out as she returned to the stove.

Otoko-Ranma gave her a hard glance then swallowed it as he noted what Akane was doing. "Well, I could have beaten them I guess, but I didn't want to destroy the cabin. And you... well you woke up long enough to knock them out with a depression blast at them. That hole over there is all your fault," he finished, placing the blame squarely on the red head.

"Shishi hokodan?" Onna-Ranma glanced at the covered hole, then back to the Amazons. She couldn't quite understand why two Amazons would come after her to finish the Kiss of Death that Shampoo had given her, and neither could otoko-Ranma.

"We dragged them back inside and tied them up," said Akane. "It's a little better them letting them freeze to death outside."

Staring at the Amazons, something caught onna-Ranma's eye, so she causally she bent down a little. _[What the hell?]_ She thought as she sat up again, as the two Amazon girls continued to stare back at her, their thoughts effectively masked apart from the deadly looks she was receiving.

"Akane-chan, when you dragged them in... did you... know those two girls are wearing..."

"Yes!" Akane said brusquely, cutting off the conversation.

"Why would they wear...?"

"I don't know!"

"I just think it's..."

"Ranma-chan," Akane huffed. "Please don't talk to me about that. Anything but that."

"We should be getting ready to leave," otoko-Ranma spoke up. "We can make it out of the snow before dark if we leave soon."

_[We're leaving now?]_

Akane spoke up. "Ranma-chan, you should change out of those clothes." _[A pity there isn't time to heat some water for a bath.]_ #SIGH# _[A pity there isn't a nice large bath to soak in. Guess I'll just have to put up with the smell for a few more days, till we get back to that small town at the end of the railroad.]_

Onna-Ranma remembered that she was still in her sleepwear. Though it wasn't damp any more, it still clung to her bare skin in a few places, revealing contours and shapes. Her reservations of leaving disappeared as she ran about in search of some suitable clothing to put on.

* * *

"Ranma, you will pay for this!" Ryoga yelled out. His voice was swallowed up in the emptiness that surrounded him. He knew he was more than lost this time. There were no landmarks to guide him, no stars to point the way, no people to ask for directions. There was nothing. Nothing that is, except the swelling blue ocean that stretched in all directions around him.

Looking around, he saw was no sign of land to the left or the right, or in front of him. _[There's nothing but ocean!]_

Ryoga inadvertently looked up at the sky and grumbled at the thought of those monsters, looking just like two innocent schoolgirls. The fact that he had survived their combined efforts to turn him into pork chops was only due to the luck and his hard head. From there they had flown him out over the ocean. After a long argument about not talking about who they were, they unceremoniously dropped him from a thousand feet.

With hundreds of square kilometres of ocean to land in and every chance of getting wet and becoming a pork bun for the next shark, it was by a quirk of fate, or perhaps the less than malevolent nature of the two girls, he landed on a freighter headed towards Australia with a load of electronics.

He'd had a talk with the Captain after they'd dug him out of the cargo hold where he and his umbrella had ended up from the fall, telling him of his plight to get to China.

The Captain turned out very friendly and was kind enough to give him one of their lifeboats saying they'd pretend they lost it in a storm and claim it back on insurance. No harm to them and no need to report finding a boy at sea, who just happened to puncture a hole though the containers holding millions of dollars worth of plasma screens destined for the houses of rich Australians.

As he climbed into the small boat and set off, their navigation officer had even pointed out the direction towards China for him, towards the setting sun as it were.

Ryoga had been sure he'd kept the direction of China in plain sight all the time, even staying awake every night so he wouldn't lose his way as he worked the oars, but all he saw was more ocean. "Damn you Ranma!" He yelled once again, venting his anger.

Jerking on the oars, the small boat rocked as if it had hit something. He ignored it as he continued pulling on the oars, but the continued sound of something grinding underneath the boat made him stop. _[What was that?]_

Ryoga looked out, but there was still nothing in front of him except ocean. Something to his right caught his eyes. Standing up and turning completely around, he found a long white sandy beach with palm trees decorating the bright sand.

Ryoga looked down at the boat and noted for the first time that the pointy end of the boat was directed not towards China, but away from it.

"Dammit, I've been rowing in the wrong direction!"

Looking down at the sand, he decided it was as good a place as any to take a break. He'd rowed the boat up the shallow water far enough that he could jump out as the water drew back, and pulled the small boat up onto the beach.

As he lumbered up the beach in search of something to indicate where he was, one thought was persistent in his mind, which he voiced loudly with frustration. "Where the hell am I now?"

Thumping the nearest palm tree in frustration, causing a dozen coconuts to fall down. His umbrella was up before the first could strike, bouncing off harmlessly and falling in the sand around him. When the hail of coconuts stopped, he folded the umbrella up again and eyed one of the coconuts with caution.

Ryoga picked one up and shook it curiously hearing a rattling sound inside.

_[Why would a coconut make that sound? Unless it's gone off.]_ Grimacing, Ryoga pitched the coconut though the trees, hearing it smash through foliage until it struck something solid.

"Ayah!" Came a scream from beyond the trees.

_[Someone… I hit someone?]_ Ryoga's eyes opened in shock. He pushed through the trees, knocking a few over as he made an indirect route up the island.

"Who be throwing de coconuts at da Big Kahuna?"

Ryoga frowned as he came across the large man reclined in a banana lounge dressed in loud red green and white shirt with flowers printed across it and wearing dark sunglasses.

He was leaning forward, holding his head between his hands where a large swelling protrusion stuck out of his head with a tree like sprout of hair stuck in it. To Ryoga it looked a little like a small island sticking out of his head with a single palm tree growing out of it.

"Is this China?" Ryoga asked hopefully.

"China? Das dis look like China to you?" Asked the man as he stood up.

Ryoga looked around wondering if it was trick question. "Umm... no. Who are you?" He asked back, standing calmly in front of the stranger.

"I be da Big Kahuna of Furinkan High. And you be da bad keiki," he said with a malevolent grin as a set of barbers shears appeared in one hand.

"Furinkan High?" Ryoga walked around a little this time with a smile on his face. "I didn't know I was still in Nerima!"

"Dis not be Nerima. Dis be Hawaii."

"Hawaii?" Ryoga scratched his head. "Is that anywhere near China?"

"Me thinks you be lost boy," said the Hawaiian.

Ryoga growled. "Damn you Ranma, this is all your fault."

"Ranma?" The Hawaiian spoke up, suddenly more interested in the conversation than clipping hair. "You be knowing dis bad keiki Ranma?"

Ryoga frowned, remembered the suffering and humiliation he'd suffered because of the pig tailed martial artist. "I've seen hell because of Ranma," he almost snarled. "He's going back to China without me, and taking Akane with him..." Ryoga's features softened dramatically at the thought of Akane. _[[Oh Ryoga, can you please forgive me for going to China without you? It was all Ranma's fault,]]_ his imaginary Akane said to him.

Ryoga slammed his fist into the nearest palm tree, knocking a small section of trunk out onto the ground. Gravity took hold a few seconds later, bringing the tree down onto the missing section, before slowly toppling over to the side with a loud crash.

Kuno looked from the fallen tree back to the boy wearing a yellow bandana over his forehead. _[This keiki be da way to get that Saotome,]_ he thought evilly as a grin appeared on his face. _[And den I be giving him de bowl cut.]_

Ryoga stared at the man as he burst out in maniacal laugher, waving his shears through the air, making cuts on an imaginary head.

Kuno calmed down enough to look at the boy seriously for a moment. "You be needin to get revenge on Saotome and da Big Kahuna be needin de help too," he offered the lost boy.

"I don't need your help to defeat Ranma," Ryoga said calmly.

"Ahh... no, but you be needin help to find 'im. And he de bad keiki, deserve bowl cut. It be da school rulz."

"The school rules?" Ryoga hesitated. _[If it's the school rules, then maybe he should... it's not dishonourable if it's the rules.]_

"Yes, da rulz. All you be doing is holding de bad keiki down, while Big Kahuna give him de bowl cut."

"You just want me to hold him down?" Ryoga asked, as Kuno nodded. "That's all?"

* * *

"Tadaima!"

Nabiki sat up immediately, causing the water in the furo to splash as she heard the voice call out.

_[They're home already?]_ She thought. _[Of course they're home. They're chances of getting home before Ranma and Akane are fourteen to one. I was hoping for the long shot on this one, and it seems I lost.]_

Nabiki mentally made a tally of the bet she'd lost to herself. _[Well, that's another 200 Yen out of my slush fund, and into my College fund.]_ She frowned as she contemplated the problem ahead. The problem not of whether to tell her father and Mister Saotome of where their two children had gone off to together and why, but of whether she wanted to do it. There was no doubt they had to be told and she didn't want to lie about it as they'd find out eventually one way or another. Secrets about Ranma and Akane were hard to keep from those two. She just didn't want to be the one caught lying to them about it.

Her first thoughts were of how her father would react, and his unstable emotional state. His reactions would inevitably start from balling his eyes out at the thought of the two destined heirs to the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts going on a training trip together, by themselves. From there she had her odds on him blowing the top on his demon head when he hears that they've gone to China.

Mister Saotome on the other hand would start out thoughtful and probably saying "About time they went out together on a date," and then his next reaction to China would be to grab her and shake her until he found out everything she knew and when they'd left.

After all that, Nabiki knew she had two choices. She wasn't willing to face those two by herself, so that left it up to Kasumi to tell them. She didn't feel overly pleased with herself at leaving it to Kasumi, but her older sister was probably more capable at handling the two overzealous fathers.

She just hoped Kasumi would tell them before she got out of the furo. To give Kasumi enough time to tell them, she decided to stay in the furo a little longer than she'd planned. Her skin would slowly begin to wrinkle from the time, but it was well worth it. Especially if she wanted to live long enough to get into University.

* * *

Genma and Soun looked about entry, listening intently, but the house was oddly silent. Slipping off their packs, they headed inside.

"We're home!" Sound called out. Receiving no immediate response he called each of the girl's names. "Kasumi? Nabiki? Akane?"

"No one seems to be home Tendo-san," Genma said heading for the kitchen, his voice clearly heard in the empty house. "Perhaps the girls went out shopping together? There isn't much food here," he said before returning with a hand full of rice balls, stuffing them into his face.

"Shopping? Then where is your son Ranma?"

Genma swallowed. "The boy's probably out training, hoping to beat his pop thinking he's gone slack whilst away with the master."

"Perhaps so," Soun mused. "Let's continue our game!" He declared, taking a seat in front of the Shogi board as Genma joined him.

It stood exactly as they'd left it when they decided to try and rid themselves of the master once and for all. Each piece lay exactly in the same place.

_[Oh Nabiki, if only I'd been sure you were joking about the 500 yen to rearrange my game pieces. Perhaps I wouldn't be in this bind right now.]_

_[That boy could have at least knocked the board once,]_ Genma mused, not seeing any opportunities.

"Tendo-san?" Genma spoke up.

"Yes Genma-san?"

"I think the board is back to front." Genma proceeded to turn the board about. "I think it's supposed to be this way."

"Oh you're so right!" Soun quickly agreed and studied the pieces again. _[This is no better than before!]_

Genma stared intently at his new pieces also. _[What was I thinking? Where is that boy when I need a distraction?]_

* * *

When the water in the furo could no longer keep its heat, Nabiki crawled from the bath and dried herself off.

_[It's kind of quiet out there,]_ she considered in the change room as she slipped on clean panties. _[No yelling, no crying. I'm sure if Kasumi had told them the news, there'd at least be some moaning and wailing from otousan.]_

Leaving the bathroom dressed, Nabiki edged around the hallway towards the living room and stuck her head around the corner, where she found Mister Saotome and her father concentrating on a game.

"Ah, you're home Nabiki," Soun said glancing up.

"Ah, welcome home otousan," She replied.

Finding no more reason to hide around the corner, she entered the room and sat down on a pillow.

"How was your trip?" She asked before looking around. _[Kasumi doesn't seem to be here. And neither is the little freak.]_ "How is grandfather doing?"

"Ah, the master," Genma replied. "He left us near the outskirts of town. Said something about meeting an old acquaintance didn't he Tendo-san?"

"Yes, yes he did," Soun replied.

Genma moved a piece on the board. "Ha, I've got you now Tendo-san!"

Soun studied the board and realised Genma was right. _[Need a distraction quick.]_ "Where are Akane and Kasumi? I haven't seen them about since we got home."

"Yes, yes," Genma agreed, drawn in by Soun's plot. "And, where is that lazy son of mine?" he asked. "He better not have tried to go see his mother."

Nabiki remained quiet, hoping that the current Shogi game would keep them distracted long enough for her to make a getaway, up until both of them looked up at her as she tried to slide away.

"Nabiki?" Soun asked.

"Look, isn't that a five hundred yen coin?" Nabiki pointed towards the yard.

"Nabiki!" Soun snapped. "While…"

"Where, where!" Genma said, instantly outside in the yard looking.

Soun quickly turned about and shifted some pieces on the board, but when he turned about, all he saw was Nabiki's foot disappearing around the corner.

"Damn," he murmured. _[That girl is hiding something, but first…]_

Genma realised that he'd been had and returned to the board before Soun could do any more damage to their long running game.

* * *

Two petit girls marched up the track, carrying their long weapons slung over their shoulders.

"{I can still taste rope,}" The blue haired RanRan said, sticking her tongue out and picking at it with her fingers.

"{At least you sound better,}" The pink haired LinLin commented.

"{Wath ooo een?}" RanRan replied with her tongue between her fingers.

LinLin rolled her eyes and looked towards the forest. "{What should we tell the elders?}" She asked her sister.

"{The truth. What else?}" RanRan replied, having gotten all she could off her tongue.

"{But we will get into trouble if we say that we were defeated by an outsider girl and failed to give her the Kiss of Death!}" LinLin said.

"{We found the girl who disgraced Xiang-Pu by eating the champion's tournament prize with pet panda, and then further disgraced our sister by knocking Xiang-Pu off champion's log. It is truth, isn't it?}"

LinLin nodded in understanding. "{Then we followed the red haired girl and her two companions to Jusenkyo, but village law prohibits us from entering Jusenkyo.}"

"{Yes, this is still the truth,}" RanRan added. "{Then we lost sight of them during the night. Unable to locate them this morning, we returned empty handed.}"

LinLin nodded. "{Yes, yes. Now we return empty handed. By why do we return?}" She stopped, bringing RanRan up short.

"{Because hunting party more fun,}" RanRan said. "{We let the other sisters do work of tracking prey for us, and cornering it. At last moment we come in and…}" #CHOP# #BOUNCE#

She made a motion of drawing a finger across her neck and watching an imaginary head bounce across the ground.

"{Yes, yes! Perhaps we also remove log girl's head too and bounce them together yes?}"

"{Most brilliant idea sister,}" RanRan said. "{Let us go quickly and tell the village!}"

LinLin nodded before they took off, rushing back to the village as quickly as they could.

* * *

"Tell me again why we are stopping here?" otoko-Ranma asked, setting his backpack down on the wooden floor.

Onna-Ranma didn't say anything, instead looking around at the small town that they'd stopped in. It wasn't big by any standards, but it was at the bottom of the Bayankala mountain range and away from the cold snow and icy winds that had been chasing them all the way from the springs. It was also the very last stop of the train line that ran all the way to the Yellow sea on the coast, where they would find a ship to board and return to Japan.

"Because I'm dirty and tired of camping out. I want to be able to sleep in a real bed," Akane responded, dumping her backpack down and sighing in relief. "And we should be able to make it to the ship tomorrow night if we catch the first train in the morning." _[And I stink too, but you don't seem to care,]_ she thought to herself.

An old Chinese woman comfortably behind a small desk knitting something when Akane approached.

"Ah, hello. I'd like to get a room for three?"

"{I don't have any rooms for three,}" the woman replied, still knitting. "{We have doubles and singles.}"

"Look, we just want a room for one night and a bath," Akane said desperately trying to get the woman to understand.

"{Use of the baths is twenty Renminbi per person,}" the woman said.

Otoko-Ranma stepped forward. "Let me handle this. I've been to china before, remember?"

Akane grumbled but let him have his way.

"Hey old lady, we need a couple of rooms. What do we need to do?"

Akane shook her head. _[As if that'll work.]_

To her surprise, the old woman put down her knitting and placed an old book on the counter, opening it up to a partially filled in page. She filled in a couple of lines before turning around and pointing at the blank parts.

"A guest book?" Akane said in surprise.

"See?" otoko-Ranma said gloatingly before filling their names in the book.

"How much is it?" Akane asked.

Otoko-Ranma looked at the Arabic numerals, trying to add them in his head. _[170 and ah, 90… um…]_

"Here, this should be enough."

The old woman counted the coins before returning one and dropped two keys on the desk with three cleans towels and a bar of soap.

"Thanks for the rooms," otoko-Ranma said, grabbing the items.

"{Damn foreigners, why can't they learn to speak Chinese,}" the woman mumbled before returning to her knitting.

"{Thank you for putting us up for the night,}" Onna-Ranma said.

The old woman to look up from her knitting in surprise as the red haired girl followed her companions. _[We'll I'll be…]_

* * *

"I'll be having a bath first," Akane said as she stuck her head into room both Ranma's had chosen.

She got a couple of non-comitial grunts in reply before she turned about to look for the bathroom.

Akane found the door easily enough, standing part way open with a damp smell emanating from it. As she pulled a door open, she found a very small cramped room mostly filled with a western style tub that looked as if it had seen better days as it had rust patches and quite a few notches missing from the edges. Along the wall were a few hooks for hanging clothes and a single chain hanging next to a spout that hung over the bath.

"Not exactly what I'd call civilized," she remarked.

"Did ya say something?" Otoko-Ranma asked, poking his head around the corner to look into the bathroom.

"Don't they have like a furo or something?" Akane asked.

"This is ***Chi-na***, you know?" Otoko-Ranma said sarcastically. "They don't have furo's here. You might be lucky to get running water when not in the cities."

Akane harrumphed as she turned about and closed the door in Otoko-Ranma's face. For a few moments she looked all over the door and doorframe looking for a lock or latch to secure the door but didn't find anything. With a frown she pulled the door open to find otoko-Ranma still standing there.

"So how do you lock the door, Mister I've been to China before?" She demanded.

Otoko-Ranma pushed the door open a bit further to stick his head in and look down the back of the door. "See that piece of wood there? It jams behind the door."

"I could have figured that out," Akane grumped before pushing his head back out and closing the door again.

She proceeded to secure the door before undressing, hanging her clothes up on the hooks before a knock sounded at the door.

"I'm in here," Akane said as pleasantly as she could in case it wasn't Ranma.

She continued to undress, stripping off the multiple layers of clothes she'd worn to keep warm as winter approached as the knock sounded again.

Rolling her eyes, Akane checked to make sure she had enough clothes left on to be presentable before unblocking the door and opening it.

Otoko-Ranma still stood at the door. "You ought to run the water a little first, just in case it's dirty," he said.

"Is that all?" Akane demanded.

"Nah," He replied with a grin. "I thought you'd want these too," he said, holding out a towel and soap bar.

Akane held back a growl as she accepted the towel and soap. She'd forgotten both in her haste to find running water to wash the smell and travel grime from her body.

Her face softened a little as she closed the door and leaned against it. _[Thankyou Ranma.]_

* * *

"What's with girls and bathes?" otoko-Ranma said as he wandered back into room where onna-Ranma was stretched out on one of the two beds, staring the lit ceiling.

"As if I know," she replied.

Otoko-Ranma nodded in mutual understanding before relaxing back on his bed.

"What do you think we should do when we get back to Japan?" onna-Ranma asked.

"Pops is gonna freak," he replied.

"Going to china without him," she said.

"Looking for a cure," he added.

"If I can handle him by myself," they said simultaneously before looking at each other across the small room. "He doesn't stand a chance with two of us." They both broke out in light laughter.

Both of them stretched and turned on their beds to fully face one another.

"But…" the both started to say.

"Mom," one said simultaneously whilst the other said "A cure."

There was awkward silence between them as they considered the other's words.

They both opened their mouths again, speaking over each other "She'll…" one said. "We're going…" the other said.

Frowns spread across both faces as they sat up to face one another.

"You first," they said together. "No, you…" they added.

"Jan-Ken?" They asked one another as matching fists met in the middle of the room.

At the same time they pumped their fists. "Jan… Ken… Pon!" they chorused as both responded with flat hands. Chancing their hand again, they raised them again. "Jan… Ken… Pon!" This time two split fingers resembling scissors appeared. Both of them frowned as they raised their hands again.

* * *

Though her face didn't show it, Nabiki stared at faces across the table nervously. This wasn't exactly what she thought she would be doing this evening after finishing a long soak in the furo.

Having snuck out of the house to avoid her father and his long-time friend certainly wasn't listed as normal on the things she did. Going down to the shopping district in order to peddle some information before it turned sour however was.

On this particular occasion however, her customers were two individuals she disliked dealing with the most. Not because they spoke furtively to each other in a foreign tongue. Not because either of them was quite capable of breaking any of her limbs and inflicting a great deal of pain on her body. And certainly not because either of them were deceitful manipulative women who would do anything to get what they wanted. No, her biggest fear was that they were both Chinese, and Chinese were notoriously hard to part with money on any occasion.

"40,000 yen is quite a steep price child," Cologne said. "And doubling the price for each following question?"

"That is my only price for offing this information," Nabiki stated.

"Why you no think I bash information out of you?" Shampoo said reaching towards her back.

"Now Shampoo," Cologne admonished her granddaughter. "You know that bruised lips are hard to talk out of, not to mention the trouble that it would cause."

"Sorry great grandmother. Just think other way to get information," Shampoo said as she relaxed her arm, placing it back on the table in view.

"My great granddaughter does raise a point that we could possibly get the information from another source for considerably less."

"Then let me assure you that this information can only be obtained from myself and one other source. That other source if it were currently available, would prove difficult to argue with."

"You promise that what you speak is the truth?" Cologne asked.

"The absolute truth," Nabiki said as she held hand to her chest.

Cologne carefully read Nabiki face but could detect no sign of pretence. Slowly she turned to Shampoo. "Pay her the money Shampoo, and then we shall first hear what has happened to my son-in-law before I ask her anything."

Shampoo grudgingly counted out the 40,000 yen in notes as she passed them across the table.

Nabiki carefully counted each note twice and then checked the notes, making sure she hadn't been handing some cheap Chinese forgery.

"Get on with it child," Cologne said in mock indignation.

Hastily folding the money to tuck it into her clothes, Nabiki faced them both as told them straight out. "Ranma has gone to China," she said. "With Akane."

* * *

"***What!***" echoed a double shout that shook the room from floor to ceiling.

"Both of them," Kasumi replied calmly as if the sudden rise in blood pressure in the room had absolutely no effect on her.

Soun was on the verge of using his Demon head as he thumped the table in anger. "When did this happen?" he demanded.

Kasumi paused in thought, the kettle she held in her hand on the verge of pouring.

"Just over a week ago I believe. That's when that nice gentleman in the heavy coat showed up," she replied before resuming pouring tea.

"My son went to China…. Without ***me***?" Genma half shouted.

"Whatever possessed my daughter to run off to China with… with that boy?" Soun demanded.

Kasumi had finished pouring and was arranging the cups on the table as she answered. "Something about a cure for the curse. I think that is what the gentleman said. Some tea father?" She finished as she held up a cup to her father Soun.

"Why thankyou Kasumi," Soun replied taking the cup in an exceedingly calm manner – unlike how he was a minute before – and taking a sip from it.

Genma however was bordering on rage. "That ungrateful son of mine. When I catch up to him…"

"Now, now Genma," Soun said trying to placate his long-time friend. "A journey like this is bound to bring our children closer together. The fact that Akane is going along to help find this cure for Ranma can only mean she has a self-interest to see him cured also."

Genma sat down as he listened to Soun, grudgingly agreeing with him.

"I can understand your feelings about not having been told about this cure, but if this cure works, then there is a strong chance that Ranma and Akane will bring some back with them to help his dear father. How does that sound?" Soun said, slapping his friend on the back.

"But to China?" Genma asked as he looked up. "I've told you about our trip there last time, but did I ever tell you how dangerous it was?"

"Many a time," Soun said nervously.

"There was Communist armies in the cities," Genma explained. "The man eating pandas in the forests, the scorpions in the deserts, the blood drinking tribes in the north, and then the female Amazons to the south. Everywhere you go in China there is something out to kill you. It's not a safe place Soun."

"My precious daughter has gone there!" Soun said before breaking down into tears that started to refill his tea cup.

"Oh my," Kasumi said, moving in to console her father.

* * *

"Airen travel to China?" Shampoo asked in confusion. "Why he travel to China?"

"An additional 40,000 yen will get you an answer to that question," Nabiki said smoothly.

Shampoo started to pull out the money she held, when Cologne placed a hand down on Shampoo's arm, making her pause.

"Shush child" Cologne said thoughtfully as she turned to look at Nabiki. "I see… You understand I can easily surmise the only reason that he could have gone back to China."

"I've told where Ranma has gone and who with," said Nabiki. "I have already explained the terms if you want more information."

"My great granddaughter has named you aptly, for you are a mercenary. I can well understand your game child, but I will play this game. How long ago did they leave for China? Shampoo, give her, her 40,000."

Cologne removed her hand, and allowed Shampoo to count out the sum of money before handing it over.

Nabiki counted it again, but tried not to make a show of it again.

"They left 8 days ago, heading for Tokyo Harbour," Nabiki replied smoothly.

Cologne looked at Nabiki carefully, trying to read more from the girl, but the intention was clear in her words when she implied their mode of travel. They could be into the heart of China already with modern means of transport at their disposal.

"Shampoo," Cologne said turning to her young charge. "Give me the money and go start packing some of my things ready for travel. I will have to move quick if I am to attempt catching them."

"Great grandmother?" Shampoo looked enquiringly as she handed the wad of yen over. "Shampoo to come too?"

"{No child,}" Cologne reverted to her native tongue in front of their unwanted audience. "{I cannot risk your presence until this matter with son-in-law is resolved. You must stay here until either I or son-in-law returns.}"

"{I understand Great grandmother,}" Shampoo said with a bow.

"{Now go quickly and pack my things. You know which ones I will need,}" Cologne finished.

Shampoo got up from the table and hurried off up the stair above the restaurant, leaving Cologne alone with Nabiki.

"I have one more question for you, child, though I sense I may regret asking this one," Cologne asked, daring Nabiki to say something, but to her credit Nabiki held her ground against her more experienced opponent. "Where exactly did Ranma and Akane go to in China? What are they looking for?" She asked as she handed almost all her remaining money.

Nabiki counted up the 80,000 yen in her hands and added it to the 80,000 she had already received before turning back to Cologne.

"Jusenkyo. Specifically they went there for the Nyanneechuan, the spring of drowned girl," Nabiki replied, watching carefully as Cologne's eyes slowly widened in surprise.

"Not the Nanniichuan?" Cologne asked, trying to comprehend this information.

"More questions will cost you more," Nabiki said.

"Leave now child," Cologne said with a slight warning in her tone. "I couldn't pay you any more even if I wanted to."

Nabiki knew it was the right time to leave – having seen that she had milked the pot dry as it were – and made good her exit before Cologne could change her mind. Seeing the reaction from the old woman was a fringe benefit she certainly didn't way to pay for in any manner, and something she wanted to think on.

Cologne sat there in contemplation. [He could have only gone to Jusenkyo for a cure. It has been his strongest desire since I arrived here. But, instead of the spring of drowned man, he's looking for the spring of drowned girl. This makes no sense. Perhaps the young Tendo girl is part of the reason, but still…]

She felt as if her ancestors had left her with the most complex puzzle box ever built, except it only had three pieces. Something was missing from her puzzle, and sitting there turning the imaginary puzzle box over in her head was not helping. Getting up from the table, she moved with determination to find the answers she wanted as quickly as possible, in China.

End Chapter 4

* * *

Author's Notes:

Here we are finally at the end of chapter 4! How many of you are still alive out there after waiting how many years?

Well, 75% of this chapter was written back in 2002 before I took a trip to Bali. Funny thing is, now I'm back in Bali, and I'm working on this story again! LOL.

I've reviewed, reformatted, and reposted the first three chapters on FanFiction Net to fix up the crap ff pulled on me by screwing with the fixed format that they applied in 2002 and then removed in later years. By Kami-sama I hate how they chew up the formatting and strip out particular characters regardless of what format I use. It's become very hard to post my stories there without jumping through a dozen hoops.

No cameo characters this time. None were planned for this chapter, but there were a fair swag of Ranma ½ characters this time.

I'm cutting back on the Author's notes, so I'm just keeping to the essentials. Apologies for taking so long. I'm still working on this other mega long (for me its long) fanfiction which I haven't yet published. It's been taking up much of my time when I am writing, however there have been many a distraction to take me away from it, especially in the last few years. Increased work load, moving house, getting married, major projects, a few family deaths. My life was simple earlier on. Now it gives me stress, makes me worry about money, health, and the environment.

Ah for the simple life of going to school, fighting off hordes off boys every day, having fun with friends and been a teenager again.

Without further ado…. What-exactly-were-the-duo-of-death-wearing-under-t hose-short-Chinese-outfits?-What-sort-of-trouble-a re-they-bringing-on-our-poor-heros?-Did-Nabiki-act ually-escape-the-Nekohanten-with-her-life-and-limb -intact?-How-many-times-did-Ranma-Jan-Ken-Pon-hims elf?-And-will-I-ever-finish-the-next-chapter-of-a- cure-for-the-curse: "A Saotome Reunion". Only time will tell.

Please don't flame me! It's hot enough in Bali already and I'm sweating here. Send C&C to LinLinAndRanRan at Joketsuzoku dot cn, they would love to know any cool new moves that would allow them to defeat any opponent, or just send the moves to me.

**As I haven't touch this story in years, and much of the detail of the Ranma universe have left my memory and reviewing the entire manga and anime would take a lot of time, I may not continue this story in the future. I do have detailed notes for the direction of the story if anyone does have interest in picking it up from me.**


End file.
